Doom: Bravo
by GL
Summary: Sam Holmes was your everyday space marine... Until all hell broke lose. See the struggle that he and Bravo team faced while you were trying to survive yourself in Doom 3.  Note: I don't intend to finish this any time soon, sorry to say it.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

_This is the audio log of Corporal Samuel Holmes, dated… dated… I don't even know what the damned date is… To whoever reads this recording, you have to run. Run, right now. Don't even explore for survivors, there aren't any, at least there can't be… I'm sitting here because… because we were… I have no idea… Oh God… The evil, you… you can't imagine the… horrors, the… _things._ I saw them. They were… creatures… demons… I don't know what the hell they were, but they… they came and did this… This place is... It's hell, it has to be… Or something… I don't think I can hold out much longer, I'm bleeding… _a lot_… Jesus… Ok… I'll describe what happened, as best I can… It'll be my warning, to others… to you… to anyone… You can't come back here… You can never let it happen again…_


	2. Chapter 1

_**1**_

_Everything was normal… Nothing unusual. I hadn't the slightest clue of what was going to happen… No one did…_

Sam Holmes stood at the T intersection which led to Marine Command. His combat suit made him look bigger, tougher, and above all kick ass… Or at least it did to him.

Corporal Samuel Holmes was a space marine, one of the extra-terrestrial elite forces which served across the solar system. He was one of the few who managed to survive the mind-bending training exercises and serve as one of the few and the proud. He was gritty and armed to the teeth, prepared for anything.

Not that anything would happen in this dump.

Sam was stationed on Mars, Earth's so called "Home away from home." The main settlement was aptly named "Mars City" and was the first city built on another planet. It was a technological marvel, harboring everything from science labs to a marine garrison. Why a military entity such as the marines would be needed here was anyone's guess.

The entire place was run by the Union Aerospace Corporation, a super-company which had its hands in everything conceivable. From starships to space docks, from energy production to research, the UAC was certainly a powerhouse for mankind's development. Its pride and joy was Mars City, and they seemed to rub it into everyone's face as often as possible. If one looked at a map for the complex, he would instantly recognize the triangular insignia of the UAC in the center. They actually built the main city area in the shape of their company logo, a stunt which Sam saw as amusing.

Sam stood there as stalwart as he could, but he was flat out bored, as were most marines on this crummy rock commonly referred to as "capital punishment" by the men. A full garrison of space marines was stationed on Mars, a total of eighty soldiers including commanding officers. They were soldiers trained and ready for duty, ready for action. Alas, there was little action here, in fact, none at all. There were never any invasions or hostile takeovers, nor were there revolts or anything which would involve the combat the marines were meant for. The most activity they got was patrolling around the base over and over again, which was even more dull than staying in bed. This quickly became evident to the command staff, especially Master Sergeant Kelly, the head of the marines on Mars. Whenever he found someone lazing around, he'd hand out a patrol as punishment. From that day forward marines would have backup plans if Kelly ever came striding by. They'd find something useful to do like checking their schedules on their UAC issued PDAs and hope that Kelly would ignore them.

Sam was another story. He was one of the higher ranking marines on-base. Being a Corporal _and _the leader of Bravo Team, he saw, and took, more shit from Sergeant Kelly than anyone else. In fact, that was the reason he was standing here in the first place. He was given orders to greet a new marine transfer and send him towards Kelly's HQ. This was not unusual for him, as people came and left very rapidly, including marines. He had done this numerous times and was becoming restless. The FNGs, or "Fucking New Guys", were always a pain to deal with. They would almost always come in either wide-eyed or overly enthusiastic about their new posting. The "wide-eyes" would stay out of the way until they became acquainted with Mars' boredom while the "talkers" would talk and talk about how they were actually on another planet or were assigned to the "easy post" on Mars. The marines who had been there for awhile would quickly become aggravated and promptly tell them to "shut the hell up" at which point the "talkers" would be virtual outcasts for the time being. It was a rough system but they were space marines. What would you expect?

The FNG had still not come. Bored out of his mind, Sam looked down at his assault rifle. The weapon was a UAM-20, a tri-barreled weapon which fired in either fully automatic or three shot burst. A full clip contained sixty 7.65 mm rounds which was usually enough to bring down a crowd of people. It was a compact weapon and rather efficient, but it was manufactured by the UAC, hence the UAM (Union Aerospace Military) designation. The marines trusted their issued weapons about as much as they trusted the company which damned them to their un-luxurious life of boredom, but they were guns, to say the least. They were the best friends the marines had.

He checked the ammo count on the screen at the top. Still numbering the full complement of sixty, Sam had the urge to finger the trigger and let out just a single round. It wouldn't hurt. He hit the side of his helmet. What was he thinking? If he pulled that trigger Sarge would go ballistic. He'd probably make him wait here _even longer_. Sam shuddered at the thought.

As he stretched his stiffened back another marine in full gear rounded the corner and approached him. It was Private First Class Edward Grafton, a member of Sam's Bravo Team. He was stuck on patrol duty around Marine Command because he was caught playing the arcade game Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 in the lounge when good old Sergeant Kelly came storming in. After being asked what in God's name he was doing, Eddy stumbled backwards trying to find his PDA. He had no excuse and was forced to submit to Kelly's torture, much to the amusement of the rest of the men in the lounge.

Eddy leaned against the wall and nodded his head, his expression hidden behind the clamshell helmet he was wearing.

"Did the FNG get here yet? I have a new one to pull on him." Sam chuckled and shook his head. "Not another one. You remember what happened to the _last one_…"

Eddy didn't seem surprised. "You mean the one that held Staff Sergeant Tyson up at gunpoint because he thought he was an imposter? That was nothing. I'm going to scare the daylights out of this poor guy." Sam was sure that Eddy was smirking beneath his armored face plate. "Just don't make him faint," Sam warned.

Eddy shook his head. "I guarantee _nothing_," he said as he walked towards the other end of the intersection on his next lap around the area.

Fifteen minutes later Sam was still waiting. Kelly must have been mad to tell him to wait here this early. He tried to circumvent the urge to fire by inspecting the ammo instead. He pushed a button on the upper half of the gun and it flew up into a position where the clip was exposed. The gun was nicknamed "eager" by the marines because it automatically ejected the clip once the tray was open, obviously in anticipation of an empty clip. Sam's wasn't empty so he had trained himself to catch it before it managed to shoot up and over his shoulder, as did most marines. He caught it in mid air and looked down into the bowels of the ammo clip.

The rounds looked small but mean. They were pointed at the ends and were so sharp that they could cut through skin if one ran his hand along them. They were small but powerful, perfect for conserving space but still getting the job done.

Now bored with the rounds, he shoved the clip back into the tray and slapped it down. The screen on his gun registered the new clip and the ammo count went from zero to sixty once more. He was out of ideas. There was nothing else left that he could do except try to sleep, but he didn't dare do that for fear of reprisal from a rampaging Kelly.

He began to stretch again when a familiar sound came from above. It was the humming of a transport shuttle. At last! He wouldn't be waiting much longer, that was of course if the FNG had anything to say about it. Sam sighed deeply. The FNG would probably be a "talker" and would do _everything_ and talk to _everyone_ before he reported to Marine Command. That's how it usually was when Sam was on duty.

He gnashed his teeth after several minutes, knowing that the new guy was probably still at the reception desk. This was just his luck. After all, he was stationed here, wasn't he?

He tilted his head back to groan but caught sight of a man in a standard marine uniform rounding the corner down the hall. _Thank God, _Sam thought. The FNG was walking towards him but his green eyes were roaming in every other direction. _Great, another "wide-eye". Well, it could be worse… _Despite what he was thinking, in truth Sam was sick and tired of this assignment and was not willing to wait any longer. He pointed down the hall to the left and started talking, not even caring if the FNG heard or not.

"Hey, FNG," Sam barked, "I need you to report to Sergeant Kelly ASAP. He's in command HQ just down the hall." It became clear that the new marine wasn't listening, so Sam leaned forward in an intimidating pose and said, "_Well?_ What are you waiting for? Sarge will have your ass if you take too long."

The FNG put on a confused expression which did little to hide his wide eyes. "_My_ _ass_?" he said in a sarcastic tone. Sam almost laughed. This guy had no clue of what he was getting himself into. Sarge would probably chop his butt off and roast it on a spit. "Yeah, he'll have you patrolling outside_ for a week_."

Apparently that threat was the trick. The FNG somehow knew that this was a bad thing and quickly made a turn to the right to head down the hall towards Marine HQ. Just around the corner he ran into Eddy who stopped him in his tracks. Sam could hear Eddy talking down the hall and heard his latest FNG joke.

Eddy stepped in front of the new guy and said, "Hey, welcome to the unit. I'll see you around." The FNG nodded and was about to go around Eddy when he was stopped again. "Hey," whispered Eddy, "Don't go crazy around here, you know, like the others…" The FNG raised an eyebrow and backed off a bit, either confused or frightened, but probably both.

As the new guy made his way towards the HQ door Eddy came around the corner and began laughing. "That guy won't be able to sleep tonight!" he said triumphantly. Sam, though amused, shook his head. "No, I still think the imposter bit was better. That guy really got it from Baker." Eddy tilted his head. "_Damnit_, I thought I was on to something there." Sam slapped him on the shoulder as he started for his next lap. "Don't quit your day job," he said.

Sam didn't want to be caught off guard if Kelly came out of HQ so he stayed at his post. Not more than thirty seconds after the new guy stepped inside the door opened again, but instead of a green-eyed FNG it was a sentry bot. It was one of those neat little toys of the UAC that did practically nothing, even if it did have a machine gun on it. The four-legged robot scurried along the floor looking up at everyone it passed by with its single eye. Sam watched as it looked up at him and scurried down the hall. It didn't take long for him to realize what it was doing. The FNG was following behind at a striding pace. Sam almost broke into laughter. Sarge must have been impatient with the new guy so he decided to make him follow a sentry bot to his destination. It looked completely ridiculous.

Eddy finally made his way back to Sam's position on what must have been his fortieth lap.

"So, how do you think he'll be?" Eddy inquired. Sam shook his head. "I don't know… he'll probably get freaked out…" Eddy leaned against the wall and shook his head. "You mean like Corporal Allen?"

He grimaced. Sam was the official leader of Bravo Team, and Allen was a team member, or at least he _was_. Allen was a marine transfer, just like the FNG from before. He seemed pretty normal at first, that was until he was heard talking in his sleep. Before long he was acting overly cautious and was frightened at the tiniest of disturbances. Just a week ago he was found in the armory with a pistol pointed at his head, the whole time saying, "Get out!!" He was quickly neutralized and shipped back to Earth a day later. Bravo Team still hadn't received its replacement.

All of the marines heard the news and were beginning to worry. Civilians and scientists were getting scared already, but this was in the marines' own ranks. True, it had happened before, but most of the others were declared mentally insane and seemed pretty strange to begin with. Allen was perfectly normal until it happened.

"I sure as hell hope not," Sam muttered, "the last thing we need now is a suicidal marine." Eddy slowly nodded and the two stood there for a few moments. Out of nowhere came Kelly who had left his HQ while the two men were talking. Sam snapped to attention and threw a hasty salute, but Eddy was still facing the other way. It didn't take half a second for Eddy to realize what was going on and he twisted around, hitting his own rifle against the wall. He threw a panicked salute and blurted out said, "Sir!"

"At ease private…" Sarge said sarcastically. He looked up at Sam and said, "Corporal, I just got word from Lieutenant King that the science team wants more marines down in Delta Labs." Sam, lucky that his face was hidden, gave an annoyed expression. "Sir, I already have most of my men down there. How many more do they need?" Kelly shook his head and groaned. "I don't know, but they seem pretty worried… Alright, I'll go ask Corporal Marak if he can spare some of his Alpha Team men instead." He walked off towards the lounge where Marak was lazing around.

Eddy let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God for Alpha Team. I don't want to be in Delta, not after all the rumors I've heard…" Sam nodded in agreement. There were some pretty strange things being said about the Delta Labs complex. It was so nefarious that people were afraid to be anywhere near that place. Sam felt sorry for his guys down there. They probably hated his guts.

He flexed his fingers and stood at attention while Kelly came back up the intersection back to his HQ. _Boy is that guy fast at handing out bullshit, _Sam mused. On his way back, Kelly shot poor Eddy a menacing glare, the kind which could replace lead. He threw up his hands in disgust as he started for another lap. "_Semper fidelis_!" Eddy moaned.


	3. Chapter 2

_**2**_

_Had I known what was going to happen next I would have stayed on Earth, but then again maybe Earth isn't safe either. I still don't know what exactly went on in the next few minutes… All I know is that all of hell must have broken loose._

Several minutes had passed since the new guy left Marine Command. Sam was practically falling asleep, his unconscious mind consuming his thoughts. He didn't need to stand here anymore but he wanted to wait for Eddy to make his next pass. Then they'd go to the lounge for a drink, hopefully alcoholic.

He quickly grew tired of waiting, so to keep himself awake he strode over to Kelly's HQ. There were two men on the raised platform leading to HQ. One of them was Private First Class Kevin Creel, one of the "veterans" or a marine who had been on-base for at least a year. He was standing over a deactivated sentry bot with PDA in one hand while his other typed furiously on its keypad. The other man, Lieutenant Victor King, was sitting next to a communications terminal, typing in god-knows-what to send to god-knows-who.

Creel's brows were furrowed and his teeth began to grind. "This worthless piece of shit… Why do we need these things anyway? It's not like they do anything important." Sam walked over and leaned against a wall next to a room nearby labeled "Combat Preparation". He gave a shrug and said, "Why don't you ask Kelly about it?" Creel threw Sam an irritated expression and focused back on the pad. "As if he'd do anything about it. He'd probably sick one on me anyway, and the last thing I need are bullet holes in my butt."

As the two chuckled, King turned around in his chair and moaned, "Do you mind? There's a message coming in from Delta and I need to hear it." Sam looked up at him and tilted his head. "What, _another_ one?" he asked. The oriental man put his hands up in the air. "Hell if I know what they're doing. And quite frankly I couldn't care less." "I know how you feel," Creel butted in, "they tried to send me down there on security detail but I was lucky enough to be held back so I could repair a few of these things. Turns out I'm the only marine who actually knows, or cares, about how they work." Sam shook his head, "You lucky bastard."

A beep emanated from King's console and he told the others to be quiet. A blonde haired scientist came into view on the large screen above the console and said, "Doctor Betruger is going to perform another portal test. He believes that it will put more stress on the system so be prepared for a lengthened blackout. That is all." The screen blinked off and the message was over. "Ok…" Victor mumbled. Sam stepped up on the platform. "What the hell was that all about?" Victor's annoyed face looked at him. "You think I know?" Sam really didn't care so he just turned around and started walking down the hallway hoping to meet up with Eddy.

Not more than a minute later, Private Edward came strolling around the corner once more. "My legs hurt," he said, "_bad_." Sam knocked on Eddy's faceplate, "All part of the job." The two began walking down the T intersection towards the marine lounge.

"Want to grab a beer?" Sam inquired, but instead of a joyful response from Eddy all he got was a groan. "They don't have any anymore. I checked." Sam stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Eddy's emotionless faceplate. "_You have to be joking_." Eddy propped himself up against the wall and said, "All part of the job… The early marine gets the beer. And after that it's another two weeks until the next shipment." Sam slapped his left hand against his helmet and let it slide down his faceplate. "What the hell…" he moaned, "I was hoping for a nice evening off drinking so much booze that I forgot who I was. So much for that… _Thank you Sergeant Kelly…_" Though his face was hidden to Sam, Eddy raised an eyebrow. "How do you think I feel? At least your legs aren't going numb like…"

A rumble suddenly jolted through the ground, catching the two marines off guard. "What the _fuck_ was…"

The lights flickered out all across the base, delving them into complete darkness. For a few seconds nothing else happened and everything seemed calm. "Was that those boys in Delta doing their test?" Eddy asked. Sam looked around but his eyes received no light. "That was one _hell_ of a test," he said.

Out of nowhere another rumble coursed through the floor panels, this time rattling them so hard that the sound could be heard from rooms away. For an instant there was a bright flash which temporarily blinded the marines. Sam shielded his faceplate visor with his hand. As he lifted it away, his arm fell limp and his mouth went agape.

Strange symbols and runes were burning themselves along the walls, floors, and ceilings. They moved swiftly, quietly, and were suddenly intermingled with star-like figures. They were pentagrams, each one having a symbol in each section. Sam didn't know what to make of it, and although shocked, he wasn't afraid.

He was about to get _very_ afraid.

A loud, ominous laughter filled his helmet and coursed through his head. It was the deepest and most satanic noise Sam had ever heard. It was so violent that his head began to throb painfully and his vision was totally smeared in a red hue. _What in God's name is this? _he tried to think as the sound began to subside. It echoed as if the sound was not coming from inside his helmet, but if it wasn't coming from his helm then where the hell could it be coming from? The walls?

Sam shook his head several times, trying to clear up his vision. As his sight began to return he noticed Eddy bending over across from him with his hands squeezing his helmet; the rifle he was carrying was carelessly dropped to the floor.

"Eddy! Eddy snap out of it!" Private Grafton started yelling violently and flailing around uncontrollably. "Make it stop! Oh God, please make it stop!" Sam rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulders. As the panicking Eddy tried to break free from his grip, Sam, in his loudest voice, yelled, "Goddamnit, Eddy, snap out of it!"

Eddy began to calm down, his convulsions slowly subsiding. "Let go of me," he panted, "I'm fine now…" Sam let go of his grip and Grafton went tumbling to the floor breathing heavily. "Good lord, what was _that_?" Sam shook his head in confusion. "I have no idea, but whatever it was affected me to. What about the others?"

He leaned over and helped Eddy to his feet. The emergency lights were on and were soon followed by the rest of them. Whatever Delta did was done now and main power had been restored for the rest of the complex. Eddy was disoriented and wobbled around as he tried to keep his balance. Sam offered to help hold him up but Grafton declined, preferring to keep his dignity if anyone saw them together. "I fainted, you didn't," he said, "and having you drag me along like a rag doll won't look too good to everyone else."

Speaking of everyone else, Sam began wondering what happened to the others on the base. Was everyone hit or was it just them? His answer would come soon enough.

As Eddy bent over to pick up his forgotten side arm, a panicked scream came bellowing down the hallway. It was coming from Marine Command. Sam started to run in its direction but he hesitated when he looked back at the unsteady Eddy. "Just go ahead, I'll catch up," he mumbled. Sam nodded and took off.

He still had his UAM-20 firmly in hand, finger on the trigger in case anything had happened. He turned right and came upon the entrance to Marine HQ. His feet skidded to a stop when he saw what lay ahead.

Private Creel was on the ground wrestling with what looked like Lieutenant King. Sam didn't know what to make of it, so he hopped up on the platform and yanked King away from his brother in arms. As King became fully erect, he made an about face and landed a half-hearted punch across Sam's helmet. Once recovering from the hit, Sam threw his gun down and lunged at the Lieutenant. With one hand he neutralized King's right arm and he clasped the other around his neck. The Lieutenant wasn't very strong, but Sam, being a full-time marine, was in perfect physical condition. He lifted King up by his neck and was stunned at what he saw.

King wasn't King anymore. Or at least he wasn't human. His skin had turned into a sheet of white and had become noticeably wrinkled. But it didn't end there. His eyes were inhuman, almost demonic. They were glazed over in white and no pupils were present. Even stranger were the words coming from his mouth. No longer was he speaking in normal English but in a string of incoherent moans and groans. He looked like the perfect example of a zombified human being.

Sam suddenly wished he hadn't dropped his gun.

He knew that King was now a threat and had to be eliminated, regardless of whether or not he was a fellow soldier. Sam's first instinct was to choke King and rid him of the hassle of wrestling with him. He tightened his grip considerably, but it did not have the desired effect. Instead of a person struggling for air, the creature kept up its frantic effort to break free from Sam's grip. _This is insane,_ Sam thought, _what do I have to do to kill him? Shove a grenade down his throat?_

In a move worthy of a karate movie Sam kicked the former King in the gut as hard as he could. As he released his grip the creature flew into the air and slammed into the wall nearby, breaking its neck with a disturbing crack. The body fell limp.

Sam sighed in relief as Eddy came stumbling into the room. He hopped up on the platform and took one look at the limp body before pointing his gun at Sam's head.

"What the hell have you done?!" he yelled, "You killed him!" Sam didn't feel like dealing with this sort of thing after what he had been through so he swiftly knocked the gun up and out of Eddy's hands and twisted Eddy's arm around his back, incapacitating him. Before Eddy had the time to protest his capture, Sam leaned over and kicked the limp body in the side, flipping it onto its back. He angled Eddy towards the creature's face and his comrade stopped struggling.

"What the _fu…_" "I don't know, Eddy," Sam interrupted, "but actually look at who I kill before you try to blow my head off of my body." He released Eddy's arms and let him go. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that Corporal."

After recovering their weapons, both lying on the floor by now, the two began to examine the strange creature. Creel, limping over, took a look as to what had attacked him. "It's not human," he struggled to say, "just look at its eyes. That isn't Lieutenant King." Sam let out a sigh and looked up at Private Creel. "No, but it _was_. Whatever happened a minute ago did this to him." Eddy, now crouching over the body, looked up and said, "Wait, if this happened to him, then couldn't it have happened to…"

As if on cue, a gunshot came from Marine HQ. After that came several more. Sam and Eddy nodded to each other and stormed through the door.

They ran in, guns up, only to find that the situation was already diffused.

"Put those guns down, marines," Kelly barked, "we don't need _more_ casualties." Sam nodded and let his gun sag but Eddy seemed a little hesitant. Sam looked over at him and shook his head before forcing the gun down himself. He looked back at Kelly who was examining yet another dead body lying on the ground. "Sir," he asked with a hint of panic in his voice, "just what the hell is going on here?" Kelly looked up and surprised the Corporal with a look of confusion and terror. "I have no idea, Corporal, I have no idea…" He shook his head worriedly and looked back down at the body.

The two walked along the room's upraised platform and went down the short steps to see what had transpired. It was déjà vu.

There were three men in HQ at the time, those being Sergeant Kelly, Corporal David Morton, and Sergeant Lee Medley. Kelly was on the upraised platform while Medley and Morton were down below tending to the consoles near the windows at the edge of the room. When the "attack" came, Medley fell out of his chair and was "zombified". He proceeded to tackle Morton and started lashing out at him viciously causing many cuts and bruises on the African man. Kelly watched for a few seconds before fielding his pistol and firing a shot into Medley's body. It had no effect on the creature so he pumped several more rounds into its head. After its cranium was reduced to a bloody pulp the body fell limp and Morton scurried out from underneath. Whatever had just happened affected more than just Lieutenant King. It had affected many throughout the entire base.

Kelly hopped up onto the platform and keyed in his intercom. It registered that several squads of marines and security forces were on duty and could be reached. He patched it in and was about to speak when pure chaos came through his unit. There were incoherent grumblings, noises, screams, and gunfire. Marines and security forces were battling something throughout the base. In truth they were battling each other. And they were losing.

"Marines," he said to the two soldiers, "I want you to go out there. Grab as many men as you can and set up a perimeter around Marine Command. I don't feel like having the only good soldiers I have getting killed." The two nodded at the sergeant and then at each other and started for the door. As they darted out the entrance Kelly spoke into all channels. "All units, this is Sergeant Kelly. We are under attack by an unknown enemy force. Fall back to Marine HQ to regroup." The only response he received was from a security guard screaming for help. He shook his head and tried again. "I say again fall back to Marine HQ and await further orders!" It was madness everywhere. There were so many transmissions coming from so many people that they started to blur into a cacophony of noise. Kelly frowned. _What in God's name is going on here?!_ he thought.

Sam and Eddy rushed through the open passage and grabbed Creel by the arm. "You have to get into Marine HQ _now_!" Eddy yelled. The confused marine looked up at them but quickly nodded and started to limp to safety.

They dashed through the halls as quickly as they could, hoping to find survivors. As they reached the end of the T intersection they ran into two marines who looked just as confused as everybody else.

"What the hell is going on here?" an oriental marine asked, though his voice sounded anything but oriental. Sam shook his head in a negative. "I don't know, Miller, but we've sure stepped into a hellhole this time."

The oriental man was Private Kevin Miller, another member of Bravo Team. The man accompanying them was Corporal Mark Marak, the leader of Alpha Team. They were both in the lounge area when the attack came out of nowhere. Kim Tang, the man at the lounge's food counter, was instantly zombified. After a short wrestle the two marines disposed of the creature.

"Take out your pistols, boys," Eddy quickly said, "'cause we've got company!" As the two marines fielded their side arms a black zombie came striding into the hallway. "Holy shit!" Sam yelled, recognizing the creature's face. It was Private Timothy Washington, yet another Bravo boy and was a close friend of his. Sam couldn't believe it as the creature came closer.

"What do we do, Corporal?" Miller asked. Sam shook the thought of his friend out of his head. _He's dead now_, he tried to convince himself. He reared up his rifle and yelled, "Shoot it!"

The group opened fire on the hapless zombie. Bullets whizzed through the air and cut swaths through the approaching creature. Several seconds and a dozen rounds later the zombie hit the ground. "_What the fuck is that?!_"Marak yelled.

Before anyone could answer several more zombified humans came into view, one of them a former security guard wielding a rifle. "Shit!" Eddy screamed as he pulled the trigger. His bullets sheared through the security zombie's face and chest. For the slightest of moments it kept moving as if it was being controlled by something other than its brain before collapsing to the ground for the other zombies to stumble over.

As the group laid down a hail of lead Sam turned on his helmet's communications system. Wails and gunfire filled his ears. They were almost as loud as the maniacal laughter from before.

"Sarge!" he yelled, "This is Holmes! They broke into the perimeter! They're everywhere!" He pulled his rifle up and started firing into the scene of carnage. Limbs went flying, screams were heard, and people were dying by the dozens.


	4. Chapter 3

_**3**_

_As if we had been thrust into the bowels of hell itself, everyone was fighting for survival. We… we didn't know what was going on or why… All we knew was that we had to shoot anything that grunted._

Once some of the zombies were clear Marak and Miller retreated back to the Combat Preparation room near HQ. Inside was a zombie who, up until a few minutes ago, was checking inventory of weapons. Now he was a lifeless husk lying in a pool of his own blood.

Marak and Miller geared up and met up with Eddy and Sam. They were still throwing rounds out at the approaching hell-spawn but their efforts were in vain. For every one that died several more came from out of the shadows and attempted to breach their defenses.

Eddy keyed his comm. and spoke as loud as he could to go over all of the screams. "Command HQ," he said, "we've got a situation here." _As if that wasn't obvious enough_, Sam thought. For some reason it seemed that Eddy kept his sense of humor even in the toils of battle. Sam deeply wished that he had Eddy's attitude.

"Ok," Sam said to the group, "we've got to move out and help some of those poor bastards out there. We're gonna run right through those zombies and get to the western side of Command. That's where a large number of men are still trying to hold out on the perimeter by Mars City. We're going to get out of here alive, let's just hope we can bring some of them with us. Huah?" The marines nodded and yelled, "Huah!" They ran down the hallway right into the middle of a large gaggle of zombified engineers. They looked like they had just jumped out of a horror movie with mouths full of blood and blank soulless eyes. "Move out! Flank! Move out!" Marak yelled. Sam almost instantly kneeled and opened fire. Eddy noticed and followed suit. "Lay down suppressing fire!" he yelled. A hailstorm of bullets cut down several zombies while the two other marines charged forward. Sam's gun stopped functioning and he suddenly realized that his clip was empty. _Good thing I didn't waste those bullets_, Sam thought hurriedly as he slapped another cartridge down into the gun.

Sam was about to open fire again when he noticed a shape looming over Eddy. "Behind you, behind you!" he yelled as he pulled his trigger and blew the creature away. Eddy didn't even know it was there and looked at his comrade in confusion. Then saw the corpse behind him and gave a quick nod to Sam in thanks. "Everyone out of the corridor! Now, now, now!" Corporal Holmes yelled as he got up and charged forward with the rest of the men.

Their rounds cleared the way into a large rectangular room which was littered with the bodies of the dead _undead_. Eddy ran forward and locked a door which prevented more zombies from streaming in from the lower levels. "That should hold 'em for awhile now," he panted. "Check your ammo," Sam said, "we can't get caught with our pants down." The four marines started clicking and shoving clips into their weapons. Sam's gun was at 39 rounds so he decided to hold off on another clip.

He leaned his head back for a quick break when he spotted a shape crawling along the ceiling. It moved like a spider and started down the wall on the other side. As it came closer a shaft of light began to shine on its head. Sam didn't know what to make of it.

It was humanoid, but not human. It had a face, but it wasn't normal. It had brown leathery skin and thick bulging muscles. Its hands had claws instead of nails and fangs instead of teeth. What really caught Sam's attention were its eyes. There must have been a dozen round eyeballs perched on its head. They all looked around in different directions, a very unsettling sight.

Eddy turned around and saw the creature. "_What the fuck is that?!_" he yelled. The two other marines turned around and raised their guns. Marak looked up at the other end of the ceiling where another one was lurking and pointed. "They're all around us! What do we do?" Eddy said, obviously frightened of these strange beings. Sam raised his gun up and pointed it at the first creature's head. "Just shoot!" he yelled as he opened fire. The others opened up as well and the creature became riddled with bullets, deep red blood oozing out of the cavities they caused. Sam dismissed that one as dead and was about to turn his attention, and gun, towards the other one, but before he could turn all of the way around it pounced on him and he fell flat on his stomach. He strained to get up but the being's weight kept him pinned. As he looked up the creature grinned menacingly and its claws extended several inches in length. Sheer horror shone clearly on Samuel's face.

It lashed down at him and cut three gaping holes in the back of his armor plating. The UAC issued armor managed to hold back much of the force of the swing, but it was easily cut by the sharp claws which continued down and made contact with the soft skin below. Sam gritted his teeth as the pain wracked his body. But before the creature could attack again it was blown off with several shots to the head. Eddy had switched to burst fire and lodged three shells into the creature's eyeballs which dislodged a few of them. The hell-spawn started wailing in pain and it fell off of its victim. He then pumped two more bursts into the creature's belly, throwing it back and onto the floor writhing in pain.

Private Grafton stretched out a hand to help Sam up on his feet, but the injured marine below saw yet another impish creature coming up from behind Eddy. Before he could react the creature had formed some type of mystic fireball in its hand and had launched it at the unsuspecting Eddy, impacting on his right thigh. As he came tumbling over Sam aimed his gun and held the trigger on the creature. On full automatic fire the gun ripped the thing apart, rending its leathery skin and sending it crashing down in a heap of bloodied flesh.

The two injured marines helped each other up while Marak and Miller shot up two more of the attacking imps. "What the _fuck_ was…" "I don't know, Eddy, but I don't like them either." Eddy chuckled as he got on both feet. "Why does it always have to be my legs?" he moaned, "First patrol and now this. I need a break." Sam shook his head, "Sorry, buddy, but it looks like we've had enough break time."

Marak kicked one of the dead imps while the others checked around for more. Satisfied that the area was finally clear, they limped off towards the perimeter. Along the way, however, they stumbled upon a group of zombified security guards. They were only equipped with pistols, so the group decided to stay and fight, and though they emerged victorious, they came out with a lot less ammunition. "We can't keep going like this," Marak said, "we need to restock and redeploy." Sam looked over at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy? The only supply storage nearby is back at HQ and the place is crawling with them!" Marak nodded but he kept on speaking. "Look, Eddy's limping and you're hurt. I've only got one clip left and then that's it. What am I going to do, punch them out? We have to go back, there's no other option besides getting cut down." Corporal Holmes stood there for a minute before addressing the rest of the group. "You guys really feel like going _back_?" he said, not expecting opposition. Eddy nodded, throwing Sam off guard. "Aw hell, I need a rest, sir." The dumbfounded Corporal shook his head and muttered, "Alright… But just remember this was _your_ idea."

As they passed by the hangar area one of the doors suddenly slid open. Out came a security guard who was met with the twelve barrels belonging to the marines. His black security armor was heavily bloodied and he held a spent pistol in his right hand.

"Don't shoot!" he yelled, "I'm not one of them!" Sam nodded and asked for his name and rank. "Security Officer Robert Cooper," he said. "I was tending to the cargo manifest of a dropship when something… happened. A scientist who was waiting for a flight out of here suddenly attacked me and I was forced to shoot him. After that I… I heard all of the commotion and left to figure out what was going on. I ran into another guard and asked him about the situation, but… but he wasn't… _normal_. He tried to strangle me but I managed to get out of his grip and I fired at him." He was shaking, obviously frightened about the whole ordeal.

"Go on," Sam urged. "Ok, uh… I fired and he… _it_… didn't stop coming. I kept firing into his chest but it… it wouldn't stop. By the time I ran out of ammo the thing was a walking piece of Swiss cheese, so I kicked it and it fell over on the ground… It was, uh… _still moving_. I got outta there as fast as I friggen could. I traveled for a bit seeing all kinds of… _stuff_… and then I ran into you guys. Oh, thank God you're not one of them…" Sam nodded. "We're heading back to HQ to restock and regroup. I think you should come with us." The security officer sighed in relief. "Yeah, ok," he said, "I'll go with you."

The group, now five strong, ventured closer and closer to HQ.

They turned on a corner and came face to face with a zombie guard wielding a shotgun. Its mouth flung open and it roared. The sound it made was unnatural and disturbing to Sam. What was even more disturbing was the weapon it was carrying. The UAM-12 shotgun was a very intimidating piece of equipment, especially when in the hands of an undead soldier. For a moment they froze, staring into each other's eyes. While the zombie saw fresh meat, Sam saw a very dangerous target. "Duck!" he yelled.

The marines hit the deck and took aim but the security officer who had just entered the hall was unaware of the situation and walked right into the blast from the opposition's shotgun. It easily shredded his armor and his face, throwing him back against the wall. As his lifeless body slid down the metal wall, it marked the surface with a coat of red blood.

"Kill it!" Eddy screamed. The marine's weapons went into action and tore into the zombie, blowing its head and arms off. Even after it had lost its head the body started to run at the prone marines, regardless of its physical situation. Its madness was brought to an abrupt end when all of the marine's bullets converged and sent it tumbling to the ground. When all was said and done two security personnel lay dead on the floor, having died without a good reason.

Marak got up and checked out Cooper's body. It was riddled with pellets from the shotgun and was so badly beat up that he must have died instantly. "He's dead, Sam," he said, "no one could have survived that." The Corporal cringed. How many more men would it take to stop this chaos? How many good men had died _already_?

Sam suddenly froze. What about _his_ men? A good portion of Bravo was down in Delta when the attack happened. What happened to them? He quickly keyed his comlink and said, "Bravo Team, this is Bravo One, repeat, this is Bravo One, what is your status? Over!" All he got in return was static and the occasional gunshot. _No, this can't be happening_, he thought. "Bravo Team! This is One! Repeat, this is One! Somebody talk to me down there!" There was no response. Sam sat up against the wall staring into nothing in disbelief. His entire unit was gone except for himself, Eddy, and Miller. They were all down there in Delta when it happened and they were probably the first to be slaughtered. Sam swallowed hard as the truth set in.

"What's wrong, Corporal?" Marak asked as he walked over to him. The marine kept breathing. "Sam, you ok?" He shook his head very slowly. "They're dead, Mark, all of them…" Mark looked confused. "What do you mean all of them? We're survivors, there has to be more around here somewhere…" "No," Sam interrupted, "Bravo Team, they were down in Delta. They're gone." Marak's face went from one of understanding to one of fear. "Oh my _God_," he whispered. "Alpha…" he tried to say, but Sam sat there quietly, refusing to respond.

Marak quickly keyed his own comlink and said, "Alpha, Alpha, this is One, repeat, this is Alpha One, does anybody read me?" Static greeted him. Marak's voice became more panicked. "All Alpha! This is One, respond!" Some of the static broke up and he could make out a faint voice.

"_Lead! We… its… God… we were… tacked and… shit!... the fuck is…. No!!!" _

Marak tried quickly to talk to his squad mate but it was too late. Gunshots were heard in the background until a loud explosion abruptly ended the transmission.

Marak dropped his gun to the ground and stood there, almost lifeless in appearance. "Goddamnit…" he muttered. "I don't believe this…" "Welcome to the club," Sam said in a sarcastic, but still lowly, tone.

"Squad Leaders," Kelly said over the intercom, "get SitReps, over." Sam almost laughed. What a thing to ask for when just about everyone was dead. He keyed his comlink and said, "Command HQ, this is Bravo Team… or what's left of it… We've got one man down and two wounded." As he turned his comm. off, he heard the other groups giving reports stating similar casualties.

Sam was sick and tired of this hell. He didn't want any more men to die and he _certainly_ didn't want to die himself. He had soon convinced himself that he was going to make it out of here alive. Pouring all of his strength and will into it, he got up, checked his weapon, and said, "Alright. We're getting the hell out of here. I don't think its safe the way we're going so let's go up and around and see if we can get to HQ on the other side." The rest of them agreed and they were off.

They trekked around the edge of Marine Command for several minutes before coming across a service ladder leading up and into the ceiling. "I don't like the look of this," Eddy warned. "Neither do I, but it's the only way," Sam replied, "who's first?" No one said anything. "Don't get too excited," he said. Still nothing. He sighed and looked up at the opening. He was the big shot Corporal who "knew how to do everything" so he ended up drawing the short stick. He grabbed hold of the ladder and started climbing up, one hand on the ladder, the other on his gun.

It was dark up in the cramped service ducts, a perfect setting for an ambush. Luckily, Sam didn't need to carry around a bulky flashlight because his helmet had built-in night vision, one of the many goodies the UAC had included for no real reason. Sam started to wonder if they were actually expecting this sort of catastrophe to occur.

He flicked a switch on the side of his helm and the room became illuminated in shades of luminescent green. He pointed his rifle ahead of him and started crawling forward. After he got far enough he heard another marine climbing up behind him. He made a sharp left turn and stared down a long, empty passage, and he didn't like the look of it at all. Cautiously, he inched forward with his gun at the ready.

As he moved he could hear muffled screams and a few gun shots echoing down the passageway ahead. If that wasn't scary enough, he also heard a light pitter-pattering noise coming from somewhere nearby. For an instant something appeared at the end of the passage, but before he could tell hat it was, the intruder scurried away. It quickly became obvious that he was not alone up there.

He came to a four-way intersection and recalled the base's layout. He knew that HQ was to the left, but he also knew that the creature he spotted had gone to the left as well. His situation looked grim. Slowly and quietly he poked his head out and around the corner and fielded his weapon. There was nothing there. Sighing in relief, he heard a loud scream come from the right passage. He turned around and stared into the eyes of what appeared to be a human head _upside down_. He looked up and saw where the mouth would be. Instead of a normal set of teeth, it had needle-like fangs lining both the upper and lower jaw. His eyes lingered to the sides and caught sight of insectoid legs, four being on each side. It was some kid of mutated spider and it looked hungry for him.

It screamed once more as Sam's three barrels were shoved right into its mouth. With the pull of a trigger the spider was obliterated, its head being exploded into unrecognizable pieces. He could hear Eddy yelling, "What's going on up there?" behind him. He hollered back, "Nothing, just a pest problem, but we'd better hurry up."

After a long crawl with several more close encounters with the spiders, the group of beleaguered marines came upon another opening and slid down the access ladder into a hallway. Everything was strangely calm, but the sight of smeared blood leading into the bathroom nearby made everyone nervous; they kept their distance.

They were only a few rooms away from HQ now, which meant that they were that much closer to relative safety. As the last marine got off of the ladder, Kelly was heard once again ordering marines back to HQ. He was repeating the order, intent on getting as many of his men back as possible. The sad truth was that few of them were left.

"**All units, this is Sergeant Kelly," he said, "We don't know what we're up against; repeat, we have negative ID on the assailing force. They're mean SOBs... if you don't have a clear path back to HQ, stock up on ammo, establish a stronghold, and keep 'em at bay."**

They entered a room with a large round sky-dome on the top. Unfortunately the Martian clouds did not look too comforting. The room was very dim and very cold, much colder than the rest of the base at least. "Move in," Sam whispered. The four marines spread out and started checking out nooks and crannies to see if anything was waiting for them in ambush.

Miller approached a supply closet which had a bloody hand print on it. As he grew closer, he heard the distinct sound of someone chewing. He swiftly opened the door and pointed the gun inside, but stepped back when he saw what was going on. A zombie guard was actually _eating_ a dead scientist. The zombie's mouth was smeared in blood, along with just about everything else in the room. The sight of the scientist's entrails on the floor made Miller gag.

Apparently the zombie heard his attempted puke and it swung around with a pistol in hand. Before Miler could react, it had fired three shots at him. The first missed him completely and ricochet off of a wall outside, but the other two hit him in the side of the gut. Recoiling from the injuries, he fired a burst and lopped the zombie's gun-wielding arm off. Unfazed, it lunged at him with an outstretched arm but was quickly silenced by another burst to the head. Miller took one look at his wounds and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

By this time the other marines had heard the gunshots and were coming to help. They looked inside and gagged themselves before Sam shut the door. He and Eddy hoisted the injured Miller between them and Marak, by now the only un-injured marine of the group, led the way.

"HQ can't be far now. I'll call for medical assistance." He keyed his comlink once more and said, "**Command HQ, this is Bravo Team, we've got one man down and several wounded; we are incoming and need medical onstage and stat!" He turned his comm. off and said, "Don't worry, Kevin, you're gonna make it. I promise." Miller threw him an exasperated look as Kelly once again ordered them to fall back to HQ. **


	5. Chapter 4

_**4**_

_The carnage would continue until everyone… and everything… was dead or destroyed. I had lost my unit, and so had Marak. We were stuck with just our little group of four. Sarge decided that… that we shouldn't go to the perimeter and fight with the others. He said… he said that he had a better idea… _

As they pressed on, a disturbing transmission came from Kelly. "All remaining marine units," he said with a hint of anxiety in his voice, "this is Sergeant Kelly. I am unable to reach Mars City from my current position. Move to Marine HQ to regroup and await further orders." "What the hell?" Sam said aloud, "Why isn't he in HQ?" Marak shook his head as he kept walking forward, gun up. "I have no idea, Sam, but a lot of weird shit has been going on. Compared to this, that seems pretty normal to me."

The group stumbled across the platform leading to Kelly's HQ room. The place was littered with limp bodies of marines, security guards, and civilian workers; it was a massacre. It seemed to Sam that these were the people who were supposed to regroup, but there were too few of them. Had all of the marines died already? His questions began to bother him as they passed through the door into one last hallway which led to HQ.

As they went down the hall to the door leading inside, Sam looked up at the defense gun emplacement hanging over the doorway. It was a big, ugly Gatling gun with four barrels. Though some considered it unnecessary and others saw it as intimidating, Sam saw it as simply beautiful. He knew he'd be safe behind that massive gun. As his eyes trailed down and onto the solid steel doorway, he heard a man on the other side saying, "Who the hell is out there?!" "For God's sake, let us in!" Eddy yelled. A few seconds later the man was heard saying, "Hey! More survivors! Let 'em in, quick!'

As they stumbled inside they were met by the eyes of a dozen guards, marines, and several scientists and engineers, but Master Sergeant Kelly was nowhere to be found.

Sam looked around for the medical equipment he had requested. He found it in a large pile of supplies shoved in a corner. Apparently the refugees stocked up on everything they could before sealing themselves inside.

"Ok," Sam asked the crowd of refugees, "do any of you know first aid or possibly bullet removal? We have one hell of a case here." One security guard who was sitting over a wounded engineer raised his hand. "I know first aid and can probably remove a bullet if I have to, sir." Sam nodded, "Good, get over here." The man agreed and hopped up the platform and kneeled down near Miller.

"It doesn't look that bad and it won't be, provided I can get those bullets out of him fast enough." He checked out how the wound penetrated the armor plate and said, "Alright, I need to get under there. One of you guys has to pull the armor off." Eddy nodded and unstrapped the top piece of armor. As it came off Miller started yelping in pain. "What the hell did I do?" Eddy asked in panic. The guard looked him over and then looked closely at the wound. "It's the armor," he said, "the fragmented pieces are cutting into him. Gimme the medikit." Sam handed him the box and the guard tore through it until he found a piece of medicinal scissors. Very carefully, he wedged the blades under a broken fragment and tried to cut it off, but no matter how hard he squeezed the armor was just too strong and wouldn't break. He scratched his head for a moment before bending the broken piece up an away from the wound instead. After several more fragments the armor came off freely.

With the armor off the wound was now easily accessible. After he gave Miller a shot of painkiller, the guard took the scissors and some tweezers and delved deep into the wound. Miller started writhing around and screaming, preventing the guard from getting to the bullets. "Hold him down!" Marak and Eddy pinned both of Miller's arms and legs. After a few minutes of nerve wracking treatment and plenty of screaming, the guard developed two sharpened pistol rounds. "That it?" he asked. Eddy nodded, "Thanks, man, couldn't have done it without you." The guard then went off to treat several other wounded men.

Sam, confident that Miller was going to be alright, turned his attention to the command console where Kelly should have been standing. He found his signal and tried to make an uplink. About a minute later Kelly's mug appeared on the screen. "Corporal! Good to see you're still alive." Sam was about to respond when he noticed the Master Sergeant's eyes. He found them strange, almost alien, when he compared them to what his eyes used to be like. Kelly was a tough, hard headed man who knew how to get the job done. Marines despised him for his strict nature, but they admired him for his courage and determination. Kelly looked anything but courageous right now. Instead his eyes were full of fear. It was so obvious that it seemed to radiate out and affect the others. He was their commanding officer, and he was scared. This only made it worse for the rest of them.

"What's the situation out there, Corporal?" he asked. Sam sighed, recalled is memories of his brief foray out in the field, and came up with a summary to give to Kelly. "Well… Alpha and Bravo are basically gone. Marak and I have lost contact with them. As for everybody else, I don't know. They're all separated, pinned down all over the place. It isn't even safe outside of this room anymore… We're pretty much screwed, sir." This did not reinforce Kelly's confidence, but it was never meant to. It was straightforward and to the point: they were seriously fucked. Sam remembered Kelly's absence and decided to find out why he had left HQ.

"Sir, why did you leave HQ?" Kelly suddenly looked crestfallen. "Corporal, more or less its classified, but I don't think it matters anymore…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "As you probably know, judging by their recent 'ad campaigns' as they called them, the folks down in Delta have been experimenting with teleportation." This struck Sam as strange; what would the teleporters have to do with what was going on? He began to listen more intently.

"Apparently they tapped into somewhere they weren't supposed to go to and this hell came out. I went down there with some men to find out just what was going on when we were ambushed. We're stuck down here in Delta and we have no way of getting out right now because all of the exits are blocked." Sam nodded in understanding. "Do you need assistance?" Kelly shook his head. "Hell no, marine," he said, "We need to get reinforcements immediately if we can't contain this." Sam looked puzzled when he heard what the Sergeant was suggesting. "Sir, we can't send out a distress call to the fleet without the codes in a military transmission card. We don't have one up here." For once the Master Sergeant grinned. "You do now, Corporal. I'm sending the codes to you right now. Just put it on any old data card and you're set. Just don't lose it." Sam received the codes and moved them onto a data card. The piece of metal had just become their last hope for survival.

"I'm setting up a CP here in Delta's central authority. I can still talk to you and guide you to the communications room, but you have to hurry. How is your team?" Sam cringed. Had he not heard that almost all of Bravo _and_ Alpha had just been wiped out? He was in no condition to go out there and get reinforcements himself. "Sir, I don't _have_ a team…" Kelly shook his head, "Never mind that. Just gather up some refugees, gear them up, and move out. I'll try to get individual units to help you whenever they are available." Sam reluctantly nodded. "Understood," he said. Suddenly a comlink came alive on Kelly's end. "Command HQ," the voice said, "This is Specialist Wilson. My team is gone, they're all dead - I'm running blind here, what are my orders, over!" Kelly switched frequencies and tried to comfort the panicking soldier. "Specialist Wilson, this is Sergeant Kelly. Stay sharp son, move to your last known RP and fortify your position, we'll find you." He turned his comlink off and looked back up at Sam. "You have your orders, Corporal, move out. And good luck…" The screen went blank.

Sam turned around and saw his three partners looking up at him. "Well?" Miller asked, "When are we going?" He looked down at the wounded man with confusion. "You can't go out in that condition, soldier, you're better off staying here." Kevin's brows furrowed in anger. "The hell I'm not. You need all the help you can get!" Corporal Holmes was becoming agitated. "You'll just slow us down, Kevin, and we're gonna need to move…" "If I slow you down then leave me behind, Goddamnit," he interrupted, "I didn't come this far to chicken out." Sam couldn't believe this. Was he trying to be a martyr? Regardless, the fierceness of Miller's eyes told him that the marine wouldn't take no for an answer. Reluctantly he gave his approval. But this didn't solve his problem; he still needed more men.

He looked back at the group of huddled refugees and made his announcement.

"Alright, I'm assembling a team to go and make a call for help. I've only got four guys so far so I could use some volunteers." No one said a word. They just sat there staring at them with their frightened eyes. Sam grew uneasy. He was asking a lot from these poor guys. They were basically going to go on a suicide mission deep into the bowels of the zombie-infested base; he seriously doubted anyone actually wanted to leave.

The security guard raised his hand. "It looks like you boys could use a medic. I'll come with you." At the sight of this one of the marines raised his hand as well. "I'll come too, sir. I feel like getting back at these SOBs." Sam recognized the marine as Corporal David Morton. The black-skinned African looked more confident than he did when he was first attacked, and Sam had no doubt that he would want to kick some major ass for revenge.

He looked over at the guard. "Name and rank, soldier." The security guard nodded and said, "Security Guard James Konenburg, but you can just call me Jimmy." Sam smiled beneath his helmet. "Welcome to the team, Jimmy, and you too, David." He laughed sarcastically as he said, "Enjoy your stay."

Sam detached his helmet and pulled it off his head. The sweat which soaked his hair and face was beginning to saturate the helmet's lining. He put it down on the command console and walked over to take a look at the stockpile the refugees had secured.

Somehow the gaggle of men managed to gather everything Sam's group needed. From clips to grenades, from armor to medikits, the refugees had a whole supply depot at their fingertips. He didn't know how they got the gear exactly, but then again he didn't really care. All he cared about was getting all of the ammo he could get his hands on.

Speaking of ammunition, Sam checked his rifle's status. He had 27 rounds left in the clip. Reaching back to his waste belt he noticed that he had ran out of clips as well. He wanted to thank Marak for convincing him to turn back.

As he sifted through the chaotic pile of supplies, he noticed the handle of a weapon which he did not recognize. As he pulled it out from under some medikits he couldn't believe his eyes. Somehow the refugees grabbed a hold of a fully functional plasma rifle. It even had a power cell in it already, locked and loaded. The advanced weapon (developed by the UAC of course) was designed to shoot super-heated balls of plasma which could practically disintegrate enemies. Sam's mouth almost watered as he examined the gun. It was very modern in design and looked just as good as it worked. The epitome of weapons for the marines, few were actually issued it.

Sam still needed his rifle, so he slung the hefty weapon over his back for safe keeping. He then ejected the half empty clip from his rifle and grabbed four fresh ones from the pile as well as two HE grenades for good luck.

Eddy and Marak helped Miller limp over to the pile and they started gathering equipment for themselves. Konenburg gathered up medikits and clips for his pistol while David got suited and geared up. When all was said and done, the group looked like something straight out of an action movie.

"Everyone ready to go?' They all yelled in unison, "Yes sir!" "Good. We're heading out in a minute." He turned around to face the remaining refugees. "Seeing as how you're staying put, I want you marines to guard these guys with your lives. After all, we need _someone_ left to be rescued." "Uh, Sam?" Eddy asked in a panicked voice, "I think someone's going to have to rescue _us_." The Corporal turned around and saw a dent appear on the metal door.

"Oh _shit_!" Marak yelled, "There must be a lot of them out there!" Fear began to seep into the room and wrap itself around the refugees. Guards looked around in panic as an engineer began to bawl on the floor. Although Sam was a squad leader, he was never really good at suppressing fear. After all, being an officer he was supposed to _instill_ it. He started to yell over the worried crowd's panicked voices, "Hey! Stay calm! They can't get through that door, and once I deactivate the IFF on that turret it will shoot them up, understand?" A few of them nodded as an imp head busted through the doorway. "_Goddamnit!_" Holmes yelled as he started blasting away at the opening. His rifle cleared away the imp, but only for the time being. Within seconds another imp poked its ugly mug through the shattered plate of metal and tried to crawl inside. Eddy, who was by the door, landed a hard kick on the side of the demon's head, dislocating its jaw. It looked up at him and screeched. "Aw, to hell with this!" he said as he blew the imp's head off with a rifle burst.

At first it seemed that the situation was under control; the attacking force had a narrow entry way into the HQ room. That was of course until a third imp slammed into the bottom half of the door, peeling the whole fixture up like a sardine can. The imps were leading a pack of hungry zombies, which soon came ruthlessly flowing in. "Marines! Hold 'em off while I set up that gun!" Sam hollered over the numerous gunshots. He hopped over the last imp's body and started typing into the main control panel on the platform. As he worked, a zombie wearing a scientist's uniform managed to get past the other marines' defensive wall of firepower and started to strangle him. As it tried to cut off his air supply Holmes elbowed it in the face, breaking its nose. Naturally, the zombie was unfazed and came after him again at which point Marak noticed it and promptly splattered its brains across the floor with his rifle.

Sam hit one last button and the Gatling gun roared to life. "I think that did it!" he yelled as great balls of fire belched from the mounted turret. Its huge metal slugs tore pieces off of the marauding creatures, reducing them to gibs. Before long the attacking force was all but wiped out, the remaining zombies purged by the marines.

"Well…" Marak tried to say among deep breaths, "That was close…" "Yeah," Sam replied, "Maybe that gun isn't so useless after all?"

They restocked their spent ammo and were finally prepared to move out. Sam decided to address the refugees one last time.

"Well, it looks like you'll be safe behind that gun for now. I've reactivated the Identify Friend/Foe system so that we won't get shot up when we leave, but you'll have to turn it back on once we go. Apparently the computer still sees those zombies as base personnel. Hopefully it will buy you enough time for the rescue shuttles to arrive. Good luck." And at that statement he made an about face and strode over to his team. "We have to get moving, _now_. There's no time to waste." They all nodded in agreement and ran out of the room, right into the middle of hell.


	6. Chapter 5

_**5**_

_And so, with our new orders, we were off to the communications tower to get some help… Seriously, as if anything could stop this… In any case, we had to cut through the Alpha Labs and Energy Production Plant in order to get there. By now most of the base's population was zombified, and as such we were forced to fight for every meter of ground we took…_

Corporal Holmes grunted as he ran along side his comrades. His back was aching from the wounds they had received and the bulky plasma rifle slung over his shoulder did little to ease the pain he was feeling. Still, in a sense it made him feel more secure, somehow impenetrable or invincible. He had honestly no idea where that thought came from, but perhaps it was because his mind was desperately trying to keep the truth from him, trying to keep him preoccupied from the horrors which surrounded him and his team.

The soldiers had decided to avoid cutting through the UAC Administration section to get to Alpha because they knew it would be filled to the brim with hell-spawn. Instead, they chose to take a detour by going underneath it through the maintenance shafts and coming back up when they reached the Alpha Labs complex. What could have been dumb luck turned into disaster as the lower levels were pitch black corridors teeming with zombified engineers and maintenance technicians.

The elevator was just large enough for the six men to cram inside. The crude looking machine whined and moaned as it traversed the numerous floors. At one point the lights failed and the elevator ceased to function. In jerked to a halt and left the marines in complete darkness. It was eerily quiet, so much so that Sam could hear muffled screams and gunshots, moans and screeches, coming from the base. Regardless of what his mind tried to do, he couldn't help but shiver in horror.

Utilizing his night vision visor, Eddy leaned towards the control console and landed his fist on the blank screen. "What the fuck," he moaned in disgust, "I don't want to be trapped down here in this damned elevator!" He looked over at his fellow soldiers. "Especially not with _you_ guys." Morton shook his head and slapped Eddy across the back. "Aw, c'mon, man, it can't be _that_ bad. I mean, really, at least they can't get to us in here." Sam looked over his shoulder and would have shot Morton a concerned look had it not been for his helmet. "I wouldn't be too sure of that. They're sneaky bastards, that much is for sure." "Yeah, don't remind me," Miller groaned.

About thirty seconds later the lights began to glow once more and the elevator let out a squeak as it continued its downward trek. The marines collectively sighed in relief just as the doors opened up to a hideous sight. The ten eyes of an imp greeted them the instant the doorway had opened. It screeched at an ear-piercing volume and whipped its hand out towards Sam in the lead of the pack. Instinctively he lashed back with his gun firmly in hand, knocking the imp's bladed fingers away from him. Unfortunately for the marine, the imp still had another arm and it knocked him back and into the other marines. Before they knew it five marines were on the ground and one imp was staring hungrily at them. Konenburg fielded his pistol and took aim. He pulled the trigger which sent a bullet through the imp's mouth. Blood began to spew forth from its gaping orifice as it flailed around in anguish. Jimmy was not hesitant to put it out of its misery. Several more rounds from his smoking gun and the imp began sprawling around on the floor with its guts hanging out. Jimmy looked down at the defenseless creature and almost felt sympathy for it, but it still looked at him with evil eyes and a black heart. He knew that it was beyond redemption and so landed a bullet in its head, ending the hell-spawn's violent convulsions.

Sam and the others recovered and stood beside Konenburg as he looked down at the bloody carcass. "What's wrong, Jim?" Sam inquired, hoping to ease the tension and keep his group moving. Jimmy looked back up at him and frowned. "I almost felt… _sorry_ for it…" His head shook several times as he yelled out, "I can't _believe_ I felt sorry for _that_! What the _hell_ is wrong with me?" The security guard was extremely distraught, so much so that it could be seen in his eyes. Corporal Holmes would have belted a marine for something this pathetic, but he came to realize that this man was not a hardened fighter at all. In fact, he was basically a civilian. He couldn't possibly hold this against someone who was so out of touch with the atrocities of war and death.

Sam rested a hand on the security guard's shoulder. "There's no time for sorrow in war, Jimmy. None at all. And when you're dealing with something like this," he said, motioning to the smoking creature, "you can't show any regardless. This is pure evil. It doesn't deserve pity or remorse. Don't let it get to you and you'll make it out of here alive." His rather calm approach to Konenburg stunned the other marines who were so used to Sam laying down the law in a strict fashion, and the Corporal could tell even without looking at them. Sam glanced back at the others and said, "There's no time for this crying bullshit anyway. Let's get moving while we still can."

The marines moved briskly through the darkened corridors but Jimmy was severely hindered as his headgear was not equipped with night vision like the marines. He had to resort to a flashlight which did much to give away their position to any would be stalkers.

"Hey, Sam," Eddy panted as they rounded a corner, "why do you get the plasma rifle, huh?" Sam looked over for a brief moment before saying, "Because I never got a beer today, remember?" Eddy frowned in disgust. "No fair," he said, "I didn't get any either!" Sam chuckled. "_Too bad, then_."

As they passed through a doorway they heard pipes clattering ahead of them. Soon after came several grunts and moans. "We've got company," Sam warned his team mates, "Take up positions." They did so, with Eddy and Marak grabbing boxes for cover from any potential enemy firepower. _Like that will stave off bullets_, Sam pondered, _Do those boxes make them feel safe or something?_ He remembered the plasma rifle and shook his head. _Let our minds do their own thing. That way we might just make it._

The grunts became progressively louder as Bravo Team raised their weapons in preparation for the onslaught. A few seconds later a single zombie came out from under some shadows. He was obviously overweight and was holding a wrench in his right hand. It lumbered towards them at an impeccably slow pace. "What? This is it?" Morton snorted. "I'm disappointed." He switched to three-round-burst and pulled the trigger once, throwing rounds out at the approaching creature. The bullets hit the zombie in the gut but did nothing to stop its advance. Morton, now frustrated, fired again with the same effect. The bullets were practically useless: they were being absorbed by the zombie's fat. Yet another burst failed to stop the hulking mass. David was getting angry and was about to fire again when Sam forced his gun down. "Save your ammo, we'll deal with this another way." The zombified man was now much closer, his blank eyes clearly visible. Sam got up from his crouched position and ran towards the zombie. He slammed his gun across the zombie's head and made it flinch, but the creature was still "alive", if you could even call it that.

Sam didn't know what to do. He didn't have much time to think about it either as the creature came back at him with wrench in hand. It swung the metal object forward in a lunge which Holmes sidestepped easily. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he kicked the zombie in the side and it slammed against the nearby wall. "Screw the ammunition," he yelled, "Open fire!" The marines tore into the creature with all barrels blazing. The plump zombie shook around as bullets riddled its now horribly mutilated body. Sam held his hand up in a cease fire gesture and the men responded accordingly. Amazingly enough, the battered creature peeled itself off of the wall and moaned in Sam's direction. The Corporal was getting sick of this meddlesome zombie and gave it a mouthful of fist. He punched so hard that he felt its neck snap as it stumbled away from him. It clumsily milled around until falling to the floor in a bloody heap. Sam sure was glad that he couldn't smell the stench through his helmet; otherwise he would have puked up his breakfast ration all over the carcass.

Like it was in the elevator, things were now deathly silent. Moans and growls could be heard alongside screaming and gunfire. The sounds, though muffled, could be heard clearly through the dark, dank passage ways. Sam didn't know why exactly the hallways were damp, but he knew he didn't want to find out.

"Ok," Marak said, "I remember some of the floor plans down here." The others looked at him in disbelief. "Patrol. You know how it is…" "Oh. Ah, alright," Eddy muttered. "Right, I remember a service ladder about five hundred yards from here. I think it leads into an air duct under Alpha. We might be able to squeeze in through there." Sam nodded, "Sounds good to me. Marak, you lead the way." "I was _hoping_ you weren't gonna say that," Marak retorted.

The six men slowly advanced forward, checking every shadow and crevice where something might be hiding in ambush. They had long since passed the fat zombie when they ran across a body wearing an engineer's uniform lying on the ground. The poor soul's PDA was on the ground face down a few feet away. Sam decided to investigate. He placed his rifle on the floor and picked up the PDA. It was gilded with blood which Sam could feel slide across his fingers since he was not wearing any gloves. He wiped it off on his pants and flipped the device over.

The screen was shattered and broken, as if it had been stepped on by the engineer's killer. Still, the PDA was functioning properly and displayed the standard red UAC screen saver. Sam touched the screen and it warped around into the standard desktop. According to the information provided, the engineer was a Phillip Mansley who was stationed down here on a daily maintenance check. The poor bastard still had a wrench in his hand.

Sam wasn't that concerned about the man himself, but more or less the information his PDA provided. There were plenty of stored emails which the Corporal didn't much care for, but there was one audio log which was dated as today. He opened up the file and heard the man's panicked voice coming through the device's speaker.

_"I… I don't know what's going on, I… they… changed, or… something. I don't know where to go… I mean I just escaped the last one, but I saw some security guards walking around… with guns… they were different, too… I… Wait, something is coming… I hear, voices, I think… What? No, wait! Nooo!!"_

The sound of a shotgun discharge blasted through the speakers. But the log was not yet over. He heard booted footsteps coming towards the PDA. Along with it were strange, disgruntled voices. They sounded nothing like zombified grunts or moans, but rather incoherent words spoken in some foreign tongue. Then came a loud crunching sound and the log ended. Apparently the zombified guard stepped on the PDA and somehow stopped the recording. Regardless, it told Sam that there were still armed zombies roaming around. _Maybe coming down here wasn't such a good idea, _he thought.After dropping the pad, Sam turned his attention to the body. It, too, was face down, so he hefted it up and over. The head rolled around, showing off its missing jaw, probably blown off by the shotgun. It also showed off its blank, white eyes. The body moaned and started to get up to its feet.

"_Holy shit!"_ Sam yelled. He was going to shoot it but noticed that he had placed his rifle on the ground, out of reach. Instead of panicking, his instincts told him to grab for his right leg. _My pistol!_ He drew the weapon, pointed, and fired. His rounds cut through the zombie's head like a hot knife through butter, shredding its brain along with any hungry thoughts it had. The others, who had set up a perimeter, noticed the zombie, but they were too late to stop it themselves. "You ok?" Marak asked, concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine, but from now on we shoot up any body we run into, got it?" Marak grinned and offered Sam a lift.

Bravo Team had traveled about three hundred yards of the five hundred that Marak had assumed. They approached a large metallic door labeled "E-5 Cooling" and stepped inside. Instantaneously they were met with opposing fire from security zombies coming from across the room. Drawing from their military training, the marines took cover behind anything they could find, including support beams, supply crates, and several large radiators which were jutting out from the walls.

"What do we do, lead?" Morton yelled over the gunfire. "Fire back!" Sam replied. David nodded and exposed himself from behind a support beam, gun blazing. His shots missed their intended target, however, and ricochet around the room. "Goddamnit!" Eddy screamed, "If you can't hit something then don't!" He rounded his supply crate cover and took the shot. One bullet hit one of the zombified security guards, but it continued its assault without delay. "Hey, maybe I should take lessons from you, Grafton!" David hollered back. "Shut the _fuck_ up, marines, and open fire!" Marak yelled over his own rifle.

Sam flinched as bullets whizzed by his radiator and hit the wall behind. The guards were well dug in on the other side, like they were. They had no choice but to endure the slugfest. The Corporal keyed his comm. and tried to talk to Kelly over the mayhem. "Sergeant, we're taking heavy fire over here! What's the word on our relief?" As he opened fire and took down one of the zombies, Kelly got back to him, saying, "Corporal, I just got in contact with a marine. He's still back at HQ…" Sam took cover again. "_One marine_?" he said sarcastically, "We're gonna need a whole Goddamned _army_ over here!" On the other end, Kelly shook his head. "I'm sorry Holmes, but I can't reach any of the other squads." Sam thought back to the refugees in the HQ room. "Can you contact HQ, sir?" "That's a negative, Corporal, no contact since you headed out." _Great_, Sam thought, _if those guys couldn't hold out, then what chance in hell do we have?_

Sam saw more tracers whiz by his head as he scattered some rounds about the opposition's cover. "Roger that, sir. Holmes out." He turned his communications equipment off and looked back at his team. They were all firing back at the enemy, but were unable to do any real damage to them. _At this rate we'll run out of ammo pretty damn fast, _Sam thought. The Corporal tried to think of a solution when hit his ammo belt across the wall. He reached back, pulled out an HE grenade, and grinned. _Luck be a lady tonight_

He twisted the top cap of the grenade and pulled it off. The bomb began to whine at an ever increasing pitch as it neared detonation. Sam chucked the grenade as far as he could, yelling, "Fire in the hole!" The smoking grenade landed next to a zombified guard and touched his boot. The zombie looked down just in time to take the full blast of the compact bomb in his face, literally vaporizing him. The other zombies, however, had a more violent death. They were blown apart into harmless gibs and thrown in all directions, including towards the marines. The soldiers started proclaiming their victory as limbs started falling around them. "Hell _yeah_!" Morton yelled, "Eat _that_ you sorry sonuvabitch! Yeah!" Sam got up and stretched his back. "Well, thank God that's over," he said, "We'd better get moving before more of them decide to take us on." Eddy walked over and slapped him on the back. "Why worry so much, Sam? We came, we saw, and we kicked some serious zombie ass. These assholes won't be able stop _us_."

Sam deeply wished that he had Eddy's ever-present confidence.


	7. Chapter 6

_**6**_

_It was damn scary down there, especially when power failures happened and the noise of the machines just stopped dead… But in comparison that was nothing compared to what we would run into in Alpha… I could never forget it…_

After the debacle in the cooling room, Bravo Team gathered themselves together and started to head out.

Before they left the room, Kelly raised Sam on the comm. system. "Corporal," he said, "I've managed to deploy several groups of sentry bots. I want you to use them whenever possible. I also got in touch with a survivor who's moving out to help you. Keep an eye out for him. Kelly out." "What's up, Sam?" Marak asked. All Sam could do was grin. "It looks like we've got some backup out here after all. Let's go."

They stepped over what was left of the security zombies and through the door on the opposite side. As Marak's boot hit the floor it made a resounding squish, and then almost came out from under him. As the marine looked down to determine what had almost caused him to be face down on the floor, he saw a large, winding trail of thick, red blood going down the hall. "Sam, what the hell do you make of this?" he said worriedly, pointing down at the viscous goo. The Corporal took one look and flinched in shock. "Jesus H. Christ…" he muttered. "This isn't good," Jimmy said, "This is not good at all." "Yeah, no shit Sherlock," Morton replied. "Cut the chatter," Sam said, breaking it up.

The freshly spilt blood flowed down the hall and towards the right to an unseen doorway. Marak looked back in uneasiness. "You first," Eddy said. Hesitantly, Mark nodded and started down the dimly lit hall, gun raised and ready. The others followed but at a noticeable distance, which Marak saw as an obviously bad sign. He got to the corner and swiftly rounded it just as he was trained to do in shock attacks. The move was supposed to surprise the enemy, but instead the sight ahead surprised _him_

The door was practically indiscernible underneath its great, red sheet of blood. In fact, there was blood everywhere, from the roofs to the walls. It was as if someone was repainting the base with it. Jimmy took one look and gagged while the marines tried their hardest to keep their breakfast down. "Should… Should we open it?" Marak asked, hoping for a negative answer. "Does it lead to that ladder?" Sam asked. "Uh… No, I don't think so…" "Then let's not test it." Marak quickly nodded and continued on towards the left. Unfortunately, Morton was a little too interested to just give this up. As the others started left, he went up to the door and made it open.

Inside was a gigantic wad of flesh surrounding a strange head-like object. A split second later the head roared to life, its big jaws gnashing together repeatedly. Morton started stepping back when it lunged out after him. He screamed in terror as it approached, but the door began to close, blocking its advance. Instead of getting David, all it got was a face full of metal plating. Its head rammed into the door and left a large depression which sent droplets of blood into the air to splatter about Morton's armor. The others rushed over while Sam was yelling, "_Goddamnit_, Morton, if I say we don't go in there then we _don't go in there!_ Think before you act or _you'll_ be the one splattered against the wall!" David was visibly shaken as he said, "Y-yes-s sir." "Good." Sam looked at the rest of them intently. "We don't know what the fuck we're dealing with so don't go poking your noses around in places where something might be hiding, _especially alone_. Now let's go. I saw the ladder at the end of this hall." The group was off with Morton stumbling in behind.

As the hatch to the service tunnel opened up, Sam's clamshell helmet poked through and took a look around. It was reasonably dark, the only light coming from steam ducts which were eclipsed by various pipes and gadgets. The sound of air rushing through was eerie indeed; it was pulsing as if the room was breathing.

"All clear," he said, "Let's go." At that he stepped up and got out of the trapdoor's opening. He had to squat because the shaft was very small, but Sam still felt better about this than he did about the previous service duct; at least he could move. As he advanced forward the other marines came up the ladder behind.

Sam could barely make out the sound of clanking metal among the boot steps of his team and the whistling of the wind. _It's just the machines,_ he tried to reassure himself, _It isn't anything abnormal_… He must have not been thinking clearly since _nothing_ was normal on the Mars base anymore. The sounds were not rhythmic which was the first indication that they were not artificial. Still, Sam tried to ignore the ominous clattering, but his willful ignorance could not last forever.

No more than several minutes into the duct did the team come into contact with a loud hissing noise caused by a broken, spilling steam pipe. It did not take long for the one who broke the pipe to show up. As the group continued their forward push, an imp busted through the roof paneling and screeched in its terrible, nerve wracking way. The marines didn't need an order to be told what to do. Their guns ripped the demon to shreds before it could even touch the ground. "Hey, if things keep going like this, maybe we'll make it after all?" Eddy said sarcastically.

"Yeah, right, whatever you say Ed…" Sam was halted in his rebuke as he took a look up at where the imp came from. There was something seeping through the grating but it was not the liquid or gas that pumped through the base. Instead, it was thick, some-what solid, and above all _warm_. It was flesh. "Jeez," Marak muttered, "Where is all of this shit coming from?" "I don't know, but it's not natural," Sam muttered. Hey keyed his comm. link and told Sergeant Kelly the news. "Sir, Holmes here. Some type of unidentified, err…_growth_… is taking over the base. I don't know what the hell it is, but it seems to be spreading." He turned it off and looked back at his team. They all knew they had to get to Alpha Labs, _fast_

At last they came upon a ladder heading up onto the first floor of Alpha Labs. They had bypassed the entire Administrative section and had appeared somewhere in Sector 1 of the Alpha Labs complex. The marines were given no rest, however, as they had just stepped out from one horror and into another.

The place was a wreck. Bodies lined the corridors every fifty feet or so and there was an ample, if not surplus, supply of blood lining areas where ambushes had taken place. Windows were shattered and computer screens were smashed. All of it was blending into one gigantic hellfire which had enveloped the entire compound.

Bravo Team met opposition the instant they stepped foot inside the first room. A zombified scientist carrying a book limped out from a shadowy area and tried to attack, but the lone zombie was no match for the marines' combined firepower. That's not to say it was over. Several more zombies came through a door ahead of them and another one came up one of the nearby service ladders to the far right. Before they knew it, a horde of zombified personnel was flocking to their position.

"Aw, _shit!_ It's Marine HQ all over again! What do we do, lead?" Eddy said in a panicked voice. Sam decided to just show him. He pulled the trigger and the gun beeped; out of ammo. The Corporal swiftly popped the top open and let the clip fly while he grabbed for a new one, took it, and shoved it inside. Clicking the full auto switch, he let loose a hailstorm of bullets, ravaging the first line of attackers. "Marak! Morton! Flank right! Go, go, go!" Corporal Marak and Morton made haste to the right side of the room where zombies were coming up the service ladder. Mark shoved his gun barrels down the opening and gave the zombies below hot lead while David covered his rear. After disposing of several of the creatures, Marak prepared a grenade, dropped it in, and closed the hatch. Two seconds later the floor shook and the hatch bubbled due to the intense heat and force of the explosion. "All clear here, Lead!" he yelled. Corporal Holmes gave him an affirmative nod and turned his attention to the doorway.

"We can't lock that because we need to go through it to move forward!" he hollered. Eddy glanced at him before opening fire again himself. "Are you crazy?" he tried to say over the mayhem, "There must be tons of them in there! We can't possibly fight through all of them!" "We don't have any other choice, Private Grafton! We have got to push through that and then lock the door behind us!" "Whatever you say _Bravo Leader!_" he replied as he charged forward. "Damnit, Eddy wait!" Sam yelled as the Private cut a swath through the wall of zombies. He looked back and saw Miller and Konenburg still fighting behind him. "C'mon! Follow me!" he yelled at them. Miller nodded and started limping forward while Konenburg covered his back. Sam was about to turn and leave when he saw Marak and Morton still firing at the hell spawn from the right of the room. He quickly turned on his comm. system, saying, "Mark, Dave, get your asses over here, pronto! We're pushing through!" "Sorry, Sam," Marak responded, "but we can't get anywhere near you with all of these zombies around!" Holmes groaned as Miller and Konenburg inched by. "Just keep going!" he told them, "Find Eddy!"

By now bodies and spent cases were littering the floor. The marines could barely hold back the tide which Eddy seemed to have just vanished into. Sam tried not to think about Eddy, as his impatience had probably gotten himself killed just now. Instead, he turned his attention to the two marines fighting in the corner. As the battle progressed, they had been slowly encircled by zombies and were now out of reach. The Corporal decided to change all that. Gun blazing, he cut down many of the zombies separating them and started to fire into the main group. "Now!" he yelled over his helmet's communication system, "It's open! C'mon and follow me!" The two struggling marines said their "Roger thats" and stormed through the line. With Sam in the lead, they crashed through the wall of zombies and reached the door on the other side.

Among the carnage, Sam could hear the sound of another door opening, and then gunfire coming from behind him. As he turned around to investigate, he saw Morton stumbling to the ground and a security zombie with a pistol across the room. The corrupted officer had exited from the room that the marines had just left, meaning that it must have followed them through the shafts. He reared his weapon and let loose, spilling the zombie's entrails over the already heavily bloodied floor, its moans of pain blending in with those of the zombie horde's. Marak hefted the fallen marine onto his shoulder and yelled, "Come on, Sam, let's get the hell outta here!!" Sam briskly nodded and opened fire while Marak made his way to the door at the end of the hallway. Holmes inched back while Marak progressed, and when he passed the door he quickly shut and locked it. Turning around he saw Eddy do the same thing with the door further up ahead. "Eddy, what the hell was that all about?!" he yelled, "I thought you were dead!" "Corporal, we don't have time for this! Morton's wounded!" He looked down at the writhing man and grinded his teeth. As much as he wanted to penalize Private Grafton for his actions, he knew that they didn't have the time for such trivial concerns, but he was still worried about the group's recent increase of cockiness.

Jimmy propped David against the wall and detached his helmet. As it slid off, Morton coughed violently, spewing some blood from his mouth. "It's worse than I thought," the security guard explained, "He got hit in the gut twice and he's losing a lot of blood. We need to stop some of it before going after the bullets." Morton coughed up some more and moaned, "Goddamn, why me? Huh? Cut me a break…" "Shut up," Jimmy said, "I need to concentrate." Konenburg flipped open a medikit and took out some gauze. As he applied it to the wound, it gained a red tint and then exploded with the color exponentially. He tried again with the same results. "_Shit_, I think it's an artery or something! It hasn't even slowed down!" Miller stood by him, clutching his own wound. "Can't you repair it or something?" he asked. Konenburg looked up at him in irritation. "_No_. I'm not a doctor and we don't have that kind of equipment here! The best I can do now is give him some kind of painkiller." Marak strode up to him and shoved the surprised guard up and against the wall. "What the fuck do you mean 'the best you can do now'? Save him already!!" "_I can't!_" Jimmy replied. Marak's fears turned into anger as he violently shook Jimmy up and down, screaming, "_Why can't you save him?!_"

Sam wasn't about to let Mark kill the hapless guard, so he stepped in by shoving him away from Jimmy. "Back off, Corporal!" Unexpectedly, Marak returned the shove. "This backstabbing bastard won't save him, Sam! He won't!" Sam took off his helmet as his face hardened into a squint, hoping to give a better effect. "He _can't_, Corporal. Now stand down." "He's a fu..!" "_Stand down, Corporal Marak_!" Sam yelled. The marine stopped his frenzied rage and let his order settle in for a moment. Despite their same rank, Sam was more experienced and had been a marine longer, thus having command over Marak, and he had to obey his commands to the letter. Mark Marak slowly backed off until he reached the wall and then sunk into the corner between the wall and the door.

"Corporal…" Morton groaned. Holmes looked down at the dying marine with a cringe. He had already seen so many of his fellow men die today; he couldn't handle this. "Corporal," David tried to say, "I… I don't want to be one of them. Those freaky bastards… they… I'll turn into one of them, won't I?" Sam shook his head, saying, "I don't think it works that way, David, I mean…" "Holmes I want you to shoot me." Sam jerked back in shock. "_What?!Hell no!_ I've already killed most of my former team mates and soldiers! I'm not about to…" "Corporal Holmes, that's an _order_!" The Corporal's face twisted in a mix of surprise, grief, and confusion. It was then that he remembered that Morton was a staff officer, the reason why he was in Marine HQ. Not part of a team but on a higher executive level, even his rank of Corporal surpassed Sam's. It was a direct order, and the man was going to die regardless, quite possibly turning into a zombie. "_Do it_," David said, "I won't hold it against you…"

Sam was shaking in fear. It was something he hadn't done since before he joined the Corps. The mere occurrence of it only frightened him more. He gritted and grinded his teeth for several moments before Morton once again urged him saying, "_Do it_."

_I can't leave him like this_, he thought. To the hardened marine it was the only way, but it sure did hurt. Sam slid his helmet back on, thinking that not showing his fear and grief would be easier on the others as well as himself. His arm slowly reached down, grabbed his side arm, and pointed the pistol at Morton's head. His hand was trembling so badly that he would have missed the shot, even at point blank range. He tightened his grip and the gun steadied. "_Sam, do it_," David urged on again, spitting up more blood.

His teeth gnashed, his eyes, closed tight, and he pulled the trigger.

The sound echoed through Sam's head, bludgeoning his brain over and over again. Only one sane thought managed to escape it: _my hands are bloody_. That single thought hurt more than the sound and it continued to plague him even after the horrible gunshot had ceased. His fingers released the handle and the pistol hit the ground with a clatter. His eyes still remained closed; he didn't dare take a look at what he had just done. Just as that happened, the ominous laughter suddenly made its reappearance. It stabbed at the whole group with its menacing, mocking laughter, but Sam seemed to take in most of it. He fell to the ground writhing in pain. The laughter grew more intense and battered at his skull, threatening to burst it open. Then, as if someone had turned off the switch, the laughing stopped. As he opened his eyes, Sam saw the clamshell helmet of Eddy in front of him. Though dazed, he could make out what Eddy was saying. "_Snap out of it_!" the Private was yelling, "_Sam! Snap out of it Goddamnit_!" The world twirling by began to refocus itself and the Corporal's thoughts began to come together. "What was…" he tried to say, but Grafton just shook his head, saying, "Don't worry about it." "I guess that makes us even," Sam muttered. "Yeah, just returning the favor," Eddy replied. Sam could just imagine Eddy's smirking face underneath that helmet.

"Uh, guys?" Miller said, somehow unfazed by the events that had just occurred before him. "I don't want to break up this little emotional event or anything, but aren't you forgetting about those guys?" he said, pointing to the metal door behind them as an imp's fist broke through its surface.


	8. Chapter 7

_**7**_

_I can never forgive myself for what I did in those few moments. I should never have pulled that… Never mind… So, we were stuck again between a rock and a…_ urgh... _A hard place… We… we had to get that transmission sent, but it was becoming clear that the odds were stacked against us… And the… _strange things_… we saw didn't help either…_

The Corporal stood there with his arms limp while the door behind them was being slowly torn apart by the attackers. His eyes were not fixed on anything in particular since he wasn't even thinking about that. In fact, he didn't think about anything at all, or at least he tried not to. Being a marine he was supposed to be a heartless killer; there was no room for sorrow and grief in warfare. But this was completely different. This was no war, no contest of might; it was merely hell in its truest, most evident form.

And to Sam there was no way to escape it. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, he instinctively knew that they were going to be killed. His air of invincibility had been dispersed, his shell of overconfidence broken. And in all respects he was afraid. Afraid of what had happened, afraid of what was happening now, and afraid of what most likely _would_ happen. It bothered him tremendously.

"Damnit, Sam, what the hell do we do? Where do we go? Say _something_!" Eddy yelled at him. "Yeah, Corporal," Jimmy said, "I don't want to die, and _I don't think you want to either_."

That was it. That was his fallback position, his rock from which he could draw his resolve to push forward. _He didn't want to die_. He raised his head and looked at the others. They were looking right back at him, for guidance, for salvation. They didn't want to die either, and it was his job to make sure they didn't. His primeval urge would be his fuel. His instinct would push him forward.

He was ready.

Sam bent over and picked up his forgotten side arm. The pistol didn't look like it normally would. To him it was a beacon of fear and hatred, but as much as he wanted to cast it away for what it had done, he knew that the only way to pull through was to use it against his enemies. He shoved it down is leg holster and let it sit snug. Then he stepped over to where he had dropped his rifle, not even realizing that he did so during that whole ordeal. The memory was just a blur now, almost like a figment of his imagination, and he intended to keep it that way. His fingers closed around the handle. It felt strong and firm in his hands, as if it was right there beside him, ready to get the job done. He checked the ammo count and discovered that it was at four rounds remaining. Clicking the clip release, the metal container flew out at hit the wall behind him, bouncing back and hitting him in the leg as he shoved a new clip into the rifle. But when he reached back he noticed that there were only two clips still hanging on his ammunition belt. Their latest firefight had drained a good portion of the team's supply which would need to be replenished quickly. And so, his first order of business was "to get more bullets."

He looked over at his comrades, all of whom seemed frightened and panicked except for Marak. The marine was still slumped in the corner in as much as a daze as Sam was just in, but he had not yet recovered from the ordeal. Despite his job description, Sam still had an ounce of compassion still left in him. He walked over and lowered his free left arm towards Mark's head, putting it in front of his visor just to make sure that he saw it. The broken man looked up at him, his face unseen below his armored helmet. "Come on Mark," Sam said softly, "We have to move." Marak looked at the outstretched hand and stared at it for a few moments before firmly grasping it. Sam yanked him up to his feet and put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's make it out of this one alive, shall we?" Despite Marak's watery eyes and broken spirits, he managed to grin under that helmet. "_Works for me_," he muttered.

By this time the door had a clear opening which was just large enough for zombies to stumble through. Luckily for the marines, their poor motor functions didn't let them get very far. Miller was filling the opening with his rifle's lead, stemming the flow of the abominable creatures, but he knew that it was futile to hold them back forever.

"Sam, we've got a real problem here," he said while beheading one of the hapless zombies. "We've got to keep moving forward before these guys box us in on both sides." Sam nodded in an affirmative and looked over at the other door. "Eddy, unlock that and check outside. Take Marak with you." Private Grafton understood and walked over to the security access panel nearby. He punched in a three number code and released the door locks. It automatically opened into a hallway lined with oozing flesh. "_Yuck_," Eddy proclaimed, "I hope we don't run into more of this stuff…" Slowly and hesitantly, he stepped onto the soft, warm material. His feet were cushioned by the blubber, having a sort of comfy feel to it. "Hey, it isn't that…" The flesh began to tremble and move around. "Wha… What the hell did I do?" Sam took a look around and saw the copious flesh reverberating in motion, as if in response to Eddy's intrusion. "I think you set off an alarm or something. We'd better move quick… Is that area clear?" "Yes sir." "Good, move out, you take the lead." Eddy ran through the passageway and over the rumbling organ with Marak in tow.

Meanwhile Sam turned his attention to the besieged door. Miller was doing a fantastic job holding them back, but he was expending a lot of ammunition and this delaying tactic would only work for so long, so the Corporal decided to relieve him. "Kevin, take Jimmy over here and follow Eddy and Mark. I'll cover your retreat." "You sure?" Miller replied while firing randomly into the opening. "Yeah, go, I'll catch up later." "Whatever you say, Lead…" Miller stopped firing and grabbed Konenburg by the arm. "C'mon newbie, we've gotta move!" "Who are you calling newbie, leatherneck?" Jimmy replied as they went out the door. Sam raised his gun in preparation of the coming assault.

He really didn't have much time to prepare as the zombies seemed to be coming out of nowhere and fast. One zombified security guard poked its ugly mug through the door and blurted out a half-hearted yell. "Shut up, you Goddamned prick!" Sam yelled back while spreading the zombie's brains across the wall with his gun. His rounds were doing the trick well, their pointed tips shearing through body parts and heads, easily immobilizing the attacking zombies. Another zombie tried to crawl through the door, this time being obviously overweight. _Uh oh. The last time I fought a guy like this it wasn't so easy…_ And he was right. Even the penetration power of the bullets could be rendered ineffective by the sheer mass of this kind of zombie. But this time he knew exactly what to do. Just as the zombie got its footing past the door, Sam sprayed its feet with lead, sending the hell-spawn tumbling over flat on its face. He then rushed over and placed his foot on its back, pinning it down. Then, with a grin of guilty satisfaction, he peppered the body with as many bullets as he could, turning its head and torso into an unrecognizably bloody pulp. Sam could feel its twitching cease beneath his boot.

As even more zombified people came through the busted doorway, Sam began to back off towards the door to his rear. Then, as he ejected his next clip, he reached back and noted his final reserve of ammunition. Sam needed to restock, but where was he going to get it?

_Morton… _He didn't dare look at the corpse, feeling he'd be defiling it somehow, like he did before…

Sam shook the thought from his head. Morton's body still had ammunition on it, ammo which Sam needed desperately. It wasn't like Morton needed it anymore anyway. Keeping his eye, and trigger, on the door, Sam stepped over and crouched down by Corporal Morton's slumped body. The large wound where the bullet had entered was in his peripheral vision, but he tried not to notice it. His hand slowly crept over to David's former ammo belt and popped it loose. He pulled it back while flaying yet another approaching zombie with rounds. Belt firmly in hand, Sam quickly backed off to the door behind him and was going to hit the lock button when he caught sight of David's body. He couldn't help but feel ashamed for what he had done, but he was determined to reconcile it in whatever way he could. Looking back up from his thoughts, Sam came face to face with the glazed eyes of a jawless zombie. He quickly punched the lock button and the door slammed shut before the creature reached him. Sighing in relief, he looked down the long fleshy corridor before him. He had a long way to go.

Private Edward Grafton sprinted through the hallways as fast as he could. He didn't want to risk slowing down because something was chasing after him and Marak. Eddy was at a lack of words to describe the new demon. It was big, pink, had gigantic jaws and robotic hind legs, and was basically very scary. If someone told him that description was too vague he would have punched their face in; As if he wanted to take a closer look at that thing anyway.

The pink demon was very big, and thus it had a hard time squeezing in between the hallways. But despite its size it was very agile, easily keeping up with Eddy and Marak's panicked gait. Its huge jaws could easily fit, and crush for that matter, a human head and probably devour a whole body while it was at it. In summary it was menacing, terrifying, and above all very dangerous.

As the two ran down the hallway Eddy grabbed Marak's arm and yanked him to the left and through a door. He spun around, shut, and locked it quickly and then ran away from its general direction. "Where the hell are you going?" Marak yelled after him. "Doesn't matter! Just get away from the door!" Before he could ask the question why, the door behind Marak suddenly burst open. Like an explosion ripping through a wall, the pink demon rammed right into the door and literally went through it. Marak screamed in terror as it came within biting distance.

And then it just stopped. Mark's eyes slowly opened to quite a sight. After coming through the door the demon actually got _stuck_ between the bars of the door fixture. It was just too damned big to fit through. Mark couldn't help himself as he burst out in hysterical laughter. "These demons may be from hell," he tried to say among bouts of giddy mirth, "and they may be pretty damn scary, but they sure aren't damned smart!" Eddy took one look at it and joined in the fun by laughing his ass off. But as they chuckled in amusement the pink demon growled and roared as it flailed around in an attempt to break free. "Oh, uh, I guess we can't just leave it like this huh," Marak said. "Yeah," Eddy replied, "Let's clean up this mess." He reared his rifle and fired into the demon's face, causing many bullet wounds to fill up its skin like paint on a canvas. But even after an entire clip was spent, the creature was still not dead. In fact, it didn't look like it felt harmed at all. "Well, what do we do know?" Marak inquired. After a couple of moments of intense thinking, Eddy's face slowly began to form a devilish ear-to-ear grin. "_I'm bad_," he said.

He walked right up next to the sprawling demon. Even at this close range, the fact that it was immobilized kept the marine from being frightened. "Hey, boy," he said mockingly, as if addressing a household pet. "You hungry, huh? Want to eat me, huh?" The demon growled viciously; large globules of spit flying from its gaping orifice. Eddy took the growl as a yes. "Ok, then, you want to eat me, right?" he said while reaching towards his ammo belt. The demon intensified its growls, roars, and spit. Finally his hand reached what he wanted.

Eddy pulled the grenade off of his belt and held it by the trigger release. "Marak, get back," Eddy warned. Marak nodded and quickly took cover. "Now then," Eddy said to the demon, "Look at this, will ya? A nice little treat for you…" He raised the grenade up towards the creature's mouth, just close enough so that it could bite the end of it. "Here you go…" Eddy chuckled as it took the bait, reaching out and chomping on the end of the high explosive grenade. As it pulled back to swallow it Eddy twisted the cap at let the grenade go. The monster's mouth enveloped it and the grenade just seemed to disappear, but its high pitched whine could be heard clearly within the demon's stomach.

"You should have chewed your food, asshole!" Eddy hollered as he ran away to duck in cover. The whine reached its highest pitch.

In an explosive extravaganza worthy of a fireworks show, the pink demon exploded in a violent shower of red blood. Flakes of burnt skin and entrails made large arcs in all directions, coating the room in a disgusting mix of blood and guts. Once Eddy was sure that the rain of bowels had stopped, he got up from his defensive position and surveyed the results.

It was terrible. Except for the bits and pieces currently peeling off of the roof and walls, there was basically nothing left of the pink demon, save for the mechanical back legs. They sat there motionless except for the occasional electrical spark. "Whoa ho ho!" Eddy said enthusiastically, "Check that out!" The legs suddenly burst into flames, causing the Private to flinch. "Heh, yeah!" Marak responded. "Talk about having a fire in your fucking hole," Eddy said, "Well, now that's that then isn't it?"

Miller dragged Jimmy along the metal corridors with haste, but Konenbrug's resistance was slowing the marine down. "Come on, let me go!" the security guard said in protest. "Quit your whining. We need to find Corporal Marak and Private Grafton before they get themselves killed." "Well with you so preoccupied with holding me, I wouldn't be surprised if _we_ got killed first!" "Just shut up and follow me," Miller said in an annoyed tone, releasing Konenburg from his grasp.

"So, where to now, leatherneck?" Jimmy inquired, obviously sarcastically. "Do you think I know?" Gunshots suddenly rang out from down the hallway. He couldn't tell how far away it was, but Miller was sure that it was Marak and Grafton doing the shooting. Or at least he hoped so. "Let's go check it out…" "Hell no, I'm not following you…" "Shut up newbie and follow me!" "I'm not following you to your doom…" "I'm the ranking officer here right now so…" "I don't take orders from you!"

Miller's free hand clenched into a fist. This security guard was getting on his nerves, even if he _did_ pull a couple of bullets out of his gut. As Jimmy continued to talk about how they were facing inevitable doom because Kevin was so stupid, Miller prepared to sock him in the gut, just to shut him up of course, when the room shook violently. Loose floor gratings rattled noisily and hanging lights began to sway to and fro. "What the hell was…?" "Shut up, Konenburg, and let me listen!" Private Miller's ears took in the sounds and gave him a good idea where it had come from. He didn't know exactly where because the sounds were echoing through the winding hallways, but he still had a general idea. After all, how big could this place be?

A minute of flat out running left them breathless, and the sight they saw when they reached the origin of the sound took any breath they could have had left away. Something had blown up into a million pieces; the evidence was splattered all over the place. Two, robotic hind legs seemed to be all that was left of it. As the two began to walk towards this rather awkward phenomenon, the legs suddenly caught fire and began to burn. From the doorway near the exploded creature came some laughing and a voice distinctly saying, "Well that's that then!" "That doesn't sound like zombies to me," Jimmy said quietly. "No shit, shut up," was Miller's brisk reply.

Miller raised his rifle and rounded the door opening, trying to ignore the goop he was stepping in. The two marines inside raised their weapons in surprise. "Who…? Hey!" Eddy said, "Don't go waving that gun around!" He hesitated for a moment before muttering, "Oh, wait, uh, yeah. Never mind." Miller pulled off his helmet and grinned. "Heh, right."

Marak stepped forward and froze. "Hey, wait just a damn second. Where's Sam?" Jimmy looked around in confusion. "I thought he was with you…" "We left before he did, idiot," Kevin rebuked. "What should we do?' Eddy asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "Well," Marak said, "we could radio him, but if he's running from something like we were then he probably won't have time to listen. I think we should find a good place to hole up. You know; few access points and plenty of ammunition. We'll tell him our location and wait for him there." "But what if he doesn't…" Jimmy tried to ask, but before he could finish Marak once again grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. "_He'll make it…_" the marine in a low, menacing tone.


	9. Chapter 8

_**8**_

_I really didn't know what I got myself into when I chose to take the rear like that… I was alone… by myself, and worst of all… I had no idea where everybody else was. I still don't know why, but my communications gear had been messed up… I couldn't call for help… I was… alone…_

Corporal Holmes was beginning to get worried. He'd tried to raise Sergeant Kelly on the comm. link but to no avail. After that he tried his team, but all he got was static. Right now he was moving at a jog; just slow enough to keep an eye out for any activity.

He had seen many strange things before, but the oddities of this place totally blew him away. Just walking through the ominous, dimly lit corridors was enough to freak even the most hardened combat veteran, but it didn't stop there. For one there was the flesh, a bizarre organic compound which was slowly growing and encompassing the entirety of the UAC base on Mars. It would rumble and vibrate at the mere touch of Sam's boot. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he was tripping some type of alarm whenever he made the flesh quiver. Surely it was all connected together and had an obvious link with the demons here. But if it was an alarm like Sam had guessed, then that meant that…

He was being watched. His stalkers knew exactly where he was because of this crap, but unfortunately he couldn't avoid it: the stuff was _everywhere_. Every couple of corridors or so would yield to a wall of organic material oozing out from gratings in the floor or from air vents above, and at the rate it was expanding it wouldn't take long for it to truly envelop the entire base.

As he stepped onto another pile of the flesh he felt it quiver underneath. Looking down at its revolting surface, Sam had the tremendous urge to open fire on it. After all, if the demons already knew where he was then it wouldn't hurt would it?

He smacked his helmet forcefully. What the _hell_ was he thinking? If anything it would draw more attackers. He was suddenly reminded of how he almost opened fire in boredom just an hour ago. Only this time the consequences would be much, much worse…

Sam quickly stepped across the surface and hopped off of it at his earliest convenience; the less time he spent on that stuff the better. But as he kept moving forward, he noticed that the pile was still moving, even after he had left it. _What's it doing?_ he thought curiously as the material shook vehemently. All of a sudden the surrounding lights went dark. From farther down the corridor ahead came a bright shaft of orange light seemed to shoot down through the roof and hit the floor. Upon contact with the metal plating the light began to spread out into separate sections which seemed to just stick to the floor like wet paste. Coiling together, they made the shape of a pentagram.

As the Corporal brought his arms to bear on the symbol, yet another shaft came down and impacted on the center point of the unholy star. Out from the intense light came the hideous form of an imp. It wasted no time in turning its attention towards the marine and bellowed its mind bending screech. Before Sam could pull his trigger the demon formed a fireball in its hand and thrust it towards him. He dove to the right, narrowly avoiding the projectile's path. It hit the wall of the corridor instead, causing a large scorch mark to imprint on the metal. Corporal Holmes, now on the ground, opened up on the imp. Some of the bullets missed their target, but the others made contact with disastrous results. One of the creature's arms was blown clean off of its body while its chest became riddled with bullet holes. Sam grinned in satisfaction as it wailed in pain.

His grin quickly faded when it suddenly lunged at him. Its jump had an extremely long range, and at this distance much of the force was absorbed by the marine himself. Its one remaining hand landed on Sam's left shoulder, the sharp claws easily cutting through the little armor there was and shearing away his flesh. He cried out in pain as he shoved the barrels of his UAM-20 into the face of the creature. He pulled the trigger, expecting a rather colorful end to the marauding imp. Instead, the gun simply clicked.

Sam would have kicked himself had it not been for the demon currently sitting on top of him. How could he have ignored the warning beep of the gun when it ran out of ammunition? What had happened to that instinct he had learned during weapons familiarization? It didn't matter now, however. With the gun lacking any ammunition the best use for it now was as a club. And so, Sam began to bludgeon the creature's head with his rifle. There were several resounding cracks but the imp kept on going.

To be honest, the marine was wondering why he was still alive. Apparently the missing arm evened out the competition which suited Sam just fine; in any normal circumstance a man would be easily torn apart by a creature such as this. But there was still work to be done. Though damaged, Sam used his left arm to hold back the imp's one good arm while he bludgeoned it with his rifle. Unfortunately the demon still had a neck. Leaning forward, it tried to bite at his face but was stopped when the soldier quickly dropped his rifle and used his right hand to grab the demon by the throat. At this point he knew it was a stalemate and that it would be broken sooner or later; and possibly by the demon. Pondering possible methods of attack, he came to realize that it would be futile to win in an even fist fight with this thing if he got to his feet, even if it was missing an appendage. His only course of action was to distract it long enough so that he could grab a gun and use it. He still had his pistol, and it would surely be fast enough to draw and fire, but even the advanced weapon had limitations and would fail to be effective against the rather muscular imp, not to mention the split second he'd have time to use it wouldn't be enough to get a good headshot in. There was also his plasma rifle, but right now it was strapped to his back and would take time to field and arm. His last choice was to reload his rifle, but he had to get to it first. As the demon flailed about in an angry rage, Sam decided to give it something else to think about by giving it a swift kick to the crotch. His boot came to an abrupt halt on bony skeleton. _Aw shit! What? Are these things neuter or something?_ he thought sardonically.

Sam had to find another way to turn the tides of this struggle. He reasoned that he could briefly let go of the creature's neck and use his right hand, but only for a second or two. Staring into the eyes of the hell spawn trying its hardest to kill him, Sam came up with a plan.

In an almost comedic maneuver, Sam briefly let go of the imp's neck and jammed his fingers deep into the demon's eyes. His fingers squished the jelly-like eyeballs of the imp and actually went past them and into its skull. Pulling his digits out dislodged several of the demon's eyes, leaving them to dangle down by their nerve connectors.

As expected, the imp screeched in terrible pain and began to have violent convulsions. Adding to the chaos, Sam landed a hard punch across the demon's face, prompting it to roll off of him and to the left. Seizing the opportunity, the Corporal quickly pulled a clip off of his belt while he lunged for his gun. A second later his assault rifle was primed and ready. Turning it on the sprawling imp, he had no hesitation in pulling the trigger this time. A hailstorm of rounds literally chopped the imp into pieces. The blood spewing from the creature hit Sam's armor and quickly dotted its entire front side, giving the marine the look of an angry butcher. Releasing the trigger, Sam watched as the smoke lifted from the tri-barreled gun. He propped himself up against the wall and clutched his left shoulder. Cringing in anguish, Sam looked over at the still twitching carcass of the imp. "You started it," was all he could say.

Several minutes had passed since Sam's encounter with the imp. His right hand was clenching the wound on his left shoulder while his dangling left hand managed to grip his rifle. He was attempting to clot the wound by applying pressure, but the hole the demon's claws had torn was the size of a baseball and was leaking generous amounts of blood. If the Corporal lost too much, he'd be incapacitated, delirious beyond conscious action and thus defense. The last thing he wanted was to be a sitting duck while zombies waltzed over and ate him alive.

Bruised, beaten, and above all tired, he continued to limp down the halls, desperately trying to ignore the gaping chasm in his shoulder. Sam put his mind to work by criticizing the armor which had failed to protect him time and time again. It was inherently weak, so much so that modern rounds could pierce it at the right angles. This made him think for a moment. If it couldn't hold back bullets, the only thing it was ever meant to be defending against, what good was it? Was the armor just for show? It did have a self-sealing feature which would allow the wearer to venture out onto the surface of Mars for a few minutes, and it also applied pressure to certain body parts to maximize their performance, but it terms of protection it was severely limited. Not only that, but it even lacked armored sleeves, so even though the imp's claws had pierced the armor on his shoulder, it could have had the same effect just a few inches away on his bare arm. The whole thing was pathetic; it was no wonder he never trusted the UAC.

The blood was draining fast, in fact a little _too_ fast. The Corporal was hoping that he didn't have a severed artery. If he did, it wouldn't be long before he would collapse due to blood loss. As he continued down the halls, he began to feel the effects already: blurred vision and light headedness. Sam was running out of time. He increased his pace to a sprint as he darted down the halls.

Rounding a curve, he heard the distinct sound of shattering glass followed by gunshots and the clattering of metal on metal. Praying that it wasn't a security zombie, the Corporal switched his gun from left hand to right and stormed into the room.

Before him lay several dead zombies wearing scientists' uniforms who were torn to shreds by what looked like rounds from a UAM-20. The fact that one was still flinching made the Corporal anxious. Looking to the right he saw the remnants of a large glass viewport which was broken into thousands of pieces, their pointed ends littering the floor. The office beyond was torn to shreds, books and computers having been thrown about in some kind of struggle. Large sections of walls were painted with copious amounts of blood, spattered in a pattern indicating that whatever bled was violently thrown around the room like a rag doll. Whatever had happened here was done already, but where had the fire come from? Sam heard the slightest of sounds to his left and immediately pointed his gun in the general area, but seeing the source of the disturbance humbled him and he lowered his weapon.

A marine who he was unfamiliar with was slumped against the wall on the opposite side of the office with his gun spent and lying motionless on the floor a few feet away. He was badly injured, obviously due to the fact that he was missing one of his legs. Torn veins and flesh seeped from his broken thigh and spread into a pool of blood which was growing each passing second, and though the man was still breathing, nothing else on him moved, making him seem almost completely lifeless.

Sam walked over and crouched down by his fallen comrade. He twisted the latch on the marine's helmet and pulled it off. Even after his helmet was removed, the man seemed to be ignorant of the Corporal's presence. Then he suddenly looked at the marine next to him and stopped moving. Sam just stared into those cold, lifeless eyes for a few silent moments, and they simply stared right back. He could not put a fine point on what he was feeling at that moment. He did not know the man he had just seen pass away, but he felt tremendous remorse anyway, and for a complete stranger as well. Yet another life had been taken, and for what? The marine's life was ended for _nothing_. It was brutal and meaningless; there was no reason why he had been killed, save because some demon thought it prudent or even enjoyable to do so. The Corporal now knew what he was feeling: resentment and determination. This hell, this _madness_, had to be stopped, and it was his job to do so.

Before he left, however, he noticed that the fallen marine's helmet was still fully functional. He quickly grabbed it and tuned the frequency on the communications gear to that of his team. "Bravo, it's Corporal Holmes. Come in, Bravo, repeat…" "_Yeah, we heard you, Sam_," Eddy's voice crackled over the comm. link, "_We were wondering if you were still…_" "Where the fuck are you?" the Corporal swiftly said, interrupting Private Grafton. "_What? Oh, yeah, we're pinned down in Alpha Sector 2… We've taken up a position in the local security depot. We've been waiting for you here… Jimmy kept saying that it was pointless and that you were probably dead so I socked him in the gut. But you might want to hurry, there's a gaggle of zombies trying to break through a checkpoint over here…_" "Then stay there," Sam replied, "Don't write me off until you see me die. I'm coming for you. _Over and out_."

Sam turned the helmet comm. system off and let it drop to the floor. Looking back at the fallen man, Sam couldn't help but feel that he deserved better. He reached out with his fingers and shut the fallen man's eyelids. Standing up, he saluted the body, gripped his rifle, and continued forward, prepared for anything that stood in his way.

The Corporal hated himself for ignoring his wound, but there was no time for that. His team needed him, _now_, and they couldn't afford to wait.

Alpha Labs Sector 2 was the home of the Molecular Fuel Storage Compressor, a device which processed and stored the hydrogen fuel used for inter stellar space ships. The entire sector was devoted to that single machine, and a good amount of space was taken up by it and its maintenance shafts and catwalks. Some of the machinery was exposed and proved as a severe hazard: if Sam happened to fall off of a catwalk or touch something he wasn't supposed to, he was liable to have a limb chopped off. Either that or be fried by raw plasma or something to that effect.

He was running at full stride now, knowing that every second he spent waiting would mean another chance that a zombie or demon could have to kill his team. In his somewhat delusional state brought on by a lack of blood, he was barely thinking about his own welfare, as his wound was still taxing his already fatigued body. Nevertheless, he pushed forward, disregarding himself for the sake of his comrades.

The place was noticeably dark. Any details one could make out from the immediate area were effaced by the sheet of darkness which was broken only by the slight beams of light emitted from a computer panel or occasionally a working light fixture. This cloak of invisibility probably worked in Sam's favor; there was no doubt that the carnage he had already seen was present here as well. And the less he saw of it the better.

He opened a door that led into what appeared to be a control room. It was as black as pitch, save for the few bright computer screens on the desks nearby. Sam had an awkward feeling about this particular room. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Something fell to the ground with a dull thud and Sam instantly snapped to attention and trained his gun towards the noise. Realizing that he was running blind without a reason, he switched on the night vision feature on his helmet. The sound had come from a headless corpse that fell from its chair and onto the floor below. The Corporal slowly lowered his gun. As he sighed in relief, he felt something try to wrap itself around his neck. Jerking back in surprise, he came face to face with a zombie. Lacking a jaw and illuminated in bright shades of green by his night vision, the hell-spawn proved to be a frightening sight.

With a panicked yell, Sam latched onto the constricting arms with his left hand while he began to twist around in an attempt to throw it off, but the creature continued to grip his neck, squeezing progressively tighter as he fought with it. As the two romped about the room they caused quite the clatter; during the whole mess, Sam was silently hoping that their noise wouldn't attract even more zombies. The Corporal landed his right elbow in the zombie's face, in fact directly where its jaw should have been. Because his suit lacked sleeves, he felt the disgusting goop dripping from the zombie's orifice and removed his arm as fast as he could. _This fight isn't going so well_, Sam thought as he continued to pummel the creature in the chest with his elbow, _I need to end it fast_

Sam flipped the stock of his gun up and began to bludgeon it, but it was of no use; the zombie stuck to him like hard cement. Suddenly the zombie's head moved to the side and began to try to bite Sam's wound. Despite having no teeth with which to do so, it still irritated the still bleeding hole and the Corporal yelped in pain. Regaining reason over agony for a split second, he realized that the zombie's head was leaning forward enough for him to shoot at it. He reached his right arm around and pointed the trio of barrels at the oblivious hell-spawn. With a gratifying crack, the rounds of his gun tore a gaping hole in the zombie's face and shot right through, only to hit the wall on the other side. The creature slowly began to ease its grip and Sam threw it off and to the ground. Spinning around, he pumped the carcass full of even more lead, just to make sure it didn't sneak up on him again.

Sam exhaled deeply and began to regain his composure. He noticed that he was shaking from head to toe due to shock, but whether that was because of his situation or because of his physical condition he did not know. He shook his head in a vain attempt to snap himself out of it and began to take his leave, starting for the door at the end of the room.

Inside was a short corridor that led to another door. As he moved through the passageway, he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Desperately trying to hold back the gags, he began to sway to and fro. The door at the end of the hall opened and a great shaft of light blinded him, the effect only intensified by his night vision goggles. Pulling his helmet off, he stumbled into the room and saw a marine looking at him, obviously startled by what he saw. He was saying something, but the Corporal couldn't quite make it out. Sam tried to ask him what was wrong, but for some reason he couldn't find the words to say. The marine before him began to stretch and blur, and the world began to spin violently. The ground rushed up to meet him, and Sam's world suddenly fell into darkness.


	10. Chapter 9

**_9_**

It was all a blur. He could discern nothing from the chaos that was enveloping him. There were disembodied screams, moans, yells, screeches, howls, and all sorts of noises blending into a cacophony of madness. Colors of all kinds were blending and splitting at a seemingly instantaneous rate. Everything was in total anarchy. But then the colors began to change. Blues and greens turned to reds and yellows, and purples turned into a deep brown. The sounds became more intense and there were more screams of obvious terror and pain. Shafts of red licked up towards the sky and there was a massive heat that boiled his very soul.

And for a single moment there was horrifying clarity…

The world came rolling back like a semi smashing into a brick wall. The horrible anarchy he'd just seen had disappeared and the surrounding environment was suddenly, and painfully, forced into focus. His body shook violently in spasms he could not control and he felt his mind hastily running through dozens of thoughts, most of them questions.

"Easy, Sam," Private Grafton said as he hovered over his commanding officer who was slumped on the floor. "You were pretty screwed back there, but Jimmy here," he said, motioning back towards Officer Konenburg who was having trouble tearing apart some ammo crates, "managed to save your guts." Sam kept flinching and looking in all different directions spasmodically, still not in tune with his current state. Eddy just sighed and continued to talk. "You lost a shit load of blood, Sam, so you were basically out of commission, but we couldn't just leave you here unconscious so we pumped you full of enough stimpacks to launch you back to Earth." The Corporal apparently got this part of the message and quickly looked over to his left arm which was speared with a needle. He anxiously tried to reach his other arm around to grab it but couldn't find the strength or coordination to do so. He looked back up at Eddy who was kneeling in front of him, helmet off and lying on the table behind him.

His short, crew cut hair was glistening with countless beads of sweat which had accumulated all this time. His face was that of obvious concern, but there was something beneath it that Sam just couldn't divine. Some kind of fear which was buried deep within the Private; an immense fear somehow held at bay by Eddy's very personality, his light hearted nature perhaps. Amid the haze of thoughts that were coursing through his brain, he tried to think of how the marine did it. How he could impossibly hold such a fear at bay and allow him to function as if it never existed was beyond Sam. It couldn't have been his military training or his self confidence since neither had done anything for anyone he'd run into so far. So what was it? What kept him from breaking down?

Jimmy slammed an ammo crate down onto the table nearby and yanked the hatch open. Eddy glanced over and admonished the security guard, saying in a muted but panicked voice, "Cut that out! For all you know they can hear us!" Jimmy shook his head as he pulled several clips out of the box. "Private Grafton, if these creeps knew where we are all the time anyway, I really don't think being quiet will make much of a difference."

Something rumbled in a vent overhead and Eddy shot the guard a glare before grabbing his rifle and checking out the vent. He stepped over a bloody carcass which belonged to a scientist and pointed his UAM-20 up at the vent. He waited silently and patiently for any signs of further activity. When the vent rustled again his finger was quick on the trigger, firing off a good dozen rounds before he eased it off. A muffled moan was heard above and red fluids began to slowly seep from the holes Eddy's rounds had punched. "Fucking bastards are still using the service passages… Just like the guards are still quick to fire… I seriously hope we don't run into…" The comm. unit in his helmet crackled to life and Sergeant Kelly's hardened voice came bellowing over the speakers. Eddy slowly backed up, grabbed his helmet from the table, and put it up by his ear.

"Private Grafton," Kelly said in what sounded like a half hearted yell; a typical tone for the Sarge, "What's your status?" Grafton, still wary of the oozing vent above him, replied, "We're _fine_," in an indignant tone. Kelly gritted his teeth on the other end of the line. "Grafton I don't have time for your shit right now. What's the status of Corporal Holmes?" Eddy hesitantly glanced over at Sam. "Alive, but barely." "Is he able to proceed with the mission?" "How the fuck should I know…" Eddy mumbled under his breath. "What was that?" Kelly snapped. "I don't know," the Private responded irritably, "ask Konenburg, damnit." Kelly's angry grunt could be heard just before the transmission was cut.

Eddy put the helmet down and began to walk towards the vent again, almost tripping over the body in the process, as Jimmy stopped unloading the box and began to listen to Kelly's orders. Satisfied that the zombie which was probably stuck up there was dead and done for, he backed away and looked down at Sam who seemed to be at least a little bit more awake and aware. The Corporal stopped grunting and looked up at Eddy with a sudden expression of worry. "Wait…" he said, "Where… Where's…" "Marak and Miller?" Eddy completed the sentence. "They went ahead to scout out a security checkpoint leading into Alpha Sector Three. They'll inform us if anything is waiting to surprise us up there." Sam slowly nodded as he brought his back up against the wall. "Eddy," he tried to say, "How… How the hell am I going to… keep going?" Eddy, with no real answer, regrettably shrugged. "No idea Sam, but we're not going to leave you behind," he said in assurance. "Unless of course you've got to take a nap while we're out there," he added with a grin. Sam grinned back, even though he could only understand half of the joke at the time.

Marak let the door slide open before he shoved his tri-barreled gun inside. The room ahead was eerily quiet and seemingly devoid of movement. Besides for the flickering console of a computer going haywire, it was incredibly dark. A vent leading to some pipe system or another was releasing an orange haze of smoke and a work desk sat against the wall nearby.

With his helmet equipped with night vision, it didn't take him very long to see the headless body lying spread out in the middle of the room. The slight darkening of color on the surrounding walls and floor panels indicated that the body had bled out all over the place, meaning it was savagely attacked.

Possibly eaten.

But in any case Mark decided to keep moving forward. Walking down the room he made a left into a doorway and saw a machine at the opposite end. It was more or less a conveyor belt which was transferring tubes of florescent blue material from one undesignated place to another. Recognizing the containers, Marak instantly identified this as part of the MFS Compressor, a device which compressed the hydrogen fuel used by space ships for ease of storage. He didn't see the main compressor unit, however, but he was sure that it was somewhere nearby.

"Come on, Miller," he said behind his back, "we have to keep moving. That checkpoint can't be much farther now." Private Miller with his back to Marak came stepping through the doorway. "All clear behind us," he said, "anything up there?" "Negative," Marak replied, "Floor's clear… Uh, watch your step." Miller started to glance over in confusion but quickly got the idea and turned back around. "_Right_," he muttered.  
Marak approached the conveyor belt with Miller in tow. Despite the wound and accompanying bandages beneath his armor, Kevin was surprisingly agile and still fully capable of doing his job. It made Mark wonder how Sam would be if or when he recovered.

Pushing the distracting thought from his head, Marak pushed forward and spied inside the room with the conveyor belt. It was a complete mess, with storage containers and ejecta from various impacts strewn about. More disturbing was the pile of limbs shoved in the corner of the room.

And of course the zombie feeding on them.

Without hesitation Marak opened fire and fried the hapless zombie, tearing its own limbs off and adding them to the pile. It moaned and grunted through its cut and exposed throat for a few seconds before slumping and ceasing any signs of movement, let alone life. The sudden outbreak of fire startled Miller who abruptly jumped around in time to see the zombie get pumped full of lead. "Jesus, Mark," he said with angst, "I almost thought _we_ were the ones being shot at!" Marak looked over his shoulder and shrugged as Miller shook his head. "Look, next time you should…"

He couldn't finish his sentence before a door at the opposite side of the room suddenly slid open, prompting the two marines to instantly point their firearms in its direction. Almost firing, they slowly put their weapons down as they saw the technician drop his stolen security pistol and put his hands in the air. "Don't shoot!" he cried out. Marak turned back at Miller who gave the technician an exasperated look. "And you said _I_ was scaring _you_," Marak chuckled.

Corporal Marak turned back towards the relatively young and frightened technician and resumed his formal, stern look, despite the civilian's inability to see it beneath Marak's facemask. "Identify yourself," he said in his strict military tone. "Uh, ah… Matthew," the man stuttered, "Matthew, uh, sir!" He threw a poorly executed salute and tried to stay standing straight, but his fearful face and uncontrollable shaking prevented him from looking militant in any meaning of the word. Marak's stern demeanor suddenly gave way. "Goddamn, son, just… Just stand down." The technician looked confused for a moment and then forced his hand down.

"What's the situation here, Matthew?" "Matt," he replied, "You can call me Matt." "Alright, Matt," Marak continued, "What's going on here? Is there anyone else here with you?" The technician quickly nodded. "Yeah, there's a group of people back in the maintenance room down the hall… What the hell happened here? What are those… those… _things_?" Marak paused for am moment, trying to think of something to say, but coming up with nothing his simply let his head drop. "I don't know…" he finally responded, "I have no idea what's going on. But we're trying to fix it." The technician's face suddenly turned to one of irritation. "_Fix_?" he said angrily, "How the hell are you supposed to fix _this_?!" he yelled as he pointed towards the remains in the corner of the room. "Calm down, I'm just saying…"

"Matt? What the hell's happening out there?" a voice said from down the hall. Marak and Miller both jumped forward and took up positions on either side of the doorway. "Holy shit!" the man said as he threw his wrench on the floor and made a run for the maintenance room. Miller sighed, chuckled, and then looked up at Marak with a grin. "I can't believe it's harder to talk to people than it is to frag zombies."

It took awhile before Sam realized he wasn't even suited up. He sort of regretted coming out of his daze when he saw it lying in the corner of the room, a streak of blood below it making its way to his current location. It was a good thing he wasn't awake for that operation; he could still feel the stinging pain although it was severely dampened by the stimpack.

The room was a wreck, in more ways than one. In one instance it was in shambles; Jimmy's prying along with the apparent struggle inside had scattered debris around, mostly spent cartridges and shells which seemed to coat the floor. In another instance it was the scene of a horrid battle, with swaths of the ever so present red liquid scoring the walls and a number of carcasses, both human and zombie, lying about. It was obvious that this was the site of the last stand of the local security forces, a given since most of the bodies wore the uniform. But judging by the corridor outside it looked like there were just too many hell spawn to handle; missing it in his lightheaded blood-ridden state, Sam had unknowingly stumbled over the remains of a dozen or so zombified civilians. Yet another happenstance he was grateful for.

While Eddy busied himself by taking as much ammo as he could for his rifle, Jimmy availed himself to a UAM-12 Shotgun. More or less a riot gun given its security related background, it was small and lightweight, lacking a stock as well. But despite this drawback it had surprisingly little recoil, allowing the user to fire it with one arm if need be.

Konenburg grabbed some shells and put them into his ammo pouch on the back side of his belt. Taking what was left he shoved them inside the shotgun and jammed down on the pump, a resounding clunk affirming that the weapon was ready for some serious business.

Sam tried to get on his feet but stumbled backwards and hit the wall hard. Eddy just chuckled as he reloaded his rifle. "Come on, Sam, you're in no shape to move right now." Sam glared at him. "If I don't move now I won't move later, and I'd rather die with you guys then get left behind." Eddy's jovial expression suddenly turned sullen and he looked away.

Trying again, the Corporal managed to get a footing and stood up with his back against the wall. Glancing over at this ruined equipment, he realized that he needed a fresh set of gear. He walked over to a supply cabinet and tore it open, only to find it stripped of supplies. "Yeah," Jimmy said after he heard the doors open, "These poor bastards used just about everything they had. Still didn't save them. And now it won't save us." Sam groaned and replied, "Did you see any armor around here?" Jimmy looked over from his work. "Somewhere I'm sure. Try the lockers; they're all coded with the numbers seven, seven, two." Sam stumbled over to the line of lockers and punched in the three digit code on one of them. A slight hiss was heard as the magnetic locks released and the door was made accessible.

Sam frowned; there was nothing in there except some fatigues. Moving on to the next locker he found a suit of armor which looked like it hadn't been touched for ages. Luckily for him it was still fully functional and combat ready. He pulled it out and let it drop to the floor behind him before moving on to the last locker.

The number pad was smeared with blood which streaked down to a disembodied arm lying on the ground below. Sam cringed and moved it aside with his boot. Not thinking much of it besides for someone's last attempt to get to some gear, Sam punched the code in and released the door lock. As he yanked it open he almost lost his balance as a spider demon lunged out at him.

Screeching horridly as it tried to bite his face off, the demon was a horrifying sight for the marine, especially since its razor sharp teeth were literally centimeters from his face. Instinctively he grabbed its legs and pulled them back, giving his face an inch or so of clearance from its gaping maw.

Eddy turned around in time to see it force Sam to the ground. "Oh _shit!_" he yelled as he spun his gun around and blasted the creature apart in a wave of flesh. The Private quickly ran up and grabbed Sam's arm as if to pull him up, but he was already trying to scurry away from the locker, all the while yelling, "Goddamnit, _get out of here!_" Confused, Eddy glanced up into the open locker.

A hole was bored through the wall and into the inside of the locker, just big enough for the hoard of spider demons on the other side to rush through in single file. With a panicked yell, Private Grafton unleashed hell on the opening, dropping Sam in the process. The gap was suddenly filled with a couple pounds of lead as the UAM-20 shot its deadly cargo into it. The rounds bounced around inside, turning the tunnel into a makeshift blender which shredded the spiders inside. Releasing the trigger after the gun whined that it was out of ammo, Eddy saw that even more spiders were coming through; a seemingly endless column of death. Casting his gun to the ground, he ran for the door. With all the strength he could muster, the Private slammed the door shut and pounded on the keypad, initiating the maglock and holding the spiders at bay. The door rattled violently as the spiders tried to barge through the thick metal doorway to reach their prey on the other side. Breathing heavily, Eddy looked back at Sam who simply sat wide eyed and breathing just as coarsely. Without looking he simply muttered, "We're in deep shit now…"

Matt opened up the door and found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. "Put that fucking thing away!" he cried out. The security guard holding it looked at him for a moment, as if to confirm that he wasn't a zombie, before he lowered his weapon.

Matt groaned and pushed his way through the security guard and into the cramped maintenance room. It was small and dimly lit; a classic example of a room someone would not want to be locked in. But there was only one entrance, making it very defensible and thus rather secure. There were seven people inside, two of them being security guards and the rest being frightened civilians. They had been cramped inside of this tiny service room for half an hour now, protected only by the shotgun and pistol that the guards had brought along with them.

Marak and Miller followed, the security guard behind them staring at them intently. Marak dismissed the guard's rather disturbing behavior and surveyed the rest of the survivors. They were tired, scared, and above all restless. One of them immediately stood up and screamed, "When are we getting out of here? When are we leaving?!" Marak told the man to sit back down. "I'll call for a rescue team to come and pick you up…" "What? Aren't _you_ the rescue team?" another asked. Mark shook his head and continued. "No, we're here to send off a distress call…" "Then send it already!" a third man protested. "It's not that easy. I can assure you we're doing all that we can…"

"The hell you are!" a scientist barked. "You damned leathernecks are all alike. You just want to save your own hides! You don't give a damn if we all die here! You're just in it for your own worthless butt aren't you?!" "_Sit down!_" Marak yelled back, but the crazed scientist would have none of it. He suddenly tackled the nearest security guard, ripped the pistol from his hands, and took aim. "Get us the fuck out of here!" he screamed. Within a moment the man had been thrust back into the pipes which lined the wall. His lifeless body tumbled down and hit bottom with a dull thud, a red blot on the wall marking where the bullets had broken through his chest. Shocked, Marak turned around to see the smoke rising from Miller's gun. "We said we'd call for _help_," he grumbled at the crowd, "Now let us do our fucking job already!" He briefly looked at Marak with a cold expression before saying, "Let's go," in a solemn tone. Though Mark couldn't have possibly known what kind of expression Kevin made under that helmet, the bitter feeling it intended was practically hanging in the air.

Marak took one last look at the terrified crowd before stepping out the door, knowing full well that no one would ever come to save them.


	11. Chapter 10

_**10**_

_Things got progressively worse after that… As if it wasn't hard enough to beat these bastards back to Hell, we were getting beaten ourselves. And the more we were shoved the more it became apparent that we could never hope to hold them back… They'd dog us until we were dead._

"What the fuck! Why now?!" Eddy yelled out, still panting from his sudden encounter. "Simple, they don't like to wait," Jimmy replied scornfully as he pointed his shotgun towards the locker as if in anticipation of another attack.

Sam managed to get himself to his feet by bracing against the table while Eddy fumbled around with another clip and shoved it into his UAM-20. The Corporal was now the only one who wasn't in full combat gear with a firearm pointed at the locker door. This became painfully obvious within the next few seconds. Eddy glanced over his shoulder for a moment and took his gaze off of the locker as he said, "Sam, you're a dead man if you don't get your shit on right now!" Sam grunted and peered over by the corner. His rifle and the rest of his gear, including the transmission card and the Plasma Gun, were sitting in a bloody pool next to the badly damaged set of marine armor. Just looking at the gaping holes made him cringe.

That armor was useless now. _Hell, armor is useless at this point anyway_, he mused, but it was better to play it safe than be sorry; he forcefully stopped his mind from dwelling on what could possibly happen to him without some armor.

The two other men still with barrels pointed at the rumbling door, Sam stumbled by and grabbed the fresh suit that he had dropped earlier. Along with it he grabbed his UAM-20, its last remaining clip, and the military transmission card. He ceased momentarily as he eyed the Series 3 Plasma Gun still laying next to what was left of his old combat armor. Why _didn't Marak take it? _he thought,_ He sure could have used it out there…_ "Sam?" Eddy said quickly as not to avert his attention from the besieged doorway. Corporal Holmes shook the thought from his head and grabbed the gun. _I'll give it to him when I see him again. And I _will_ see him again._

Throwing his gear on the table, he began to unstrap the back of the suit. He simply slid it on, not aware of his pulsing wound until it was too late. The weight of the armor put pressure on it and caused the bandaged wound to flare up. Sam found his hand instantly clutching at it in some sort of primeval gesture of self preservation. Gritting his teeth for a few moments, he was able to force the pain out of his mind much like he had done before, allowing him to fully strap himself up.

At least he didn't look like an angry butcher anymore.

The locker door rattled once again, the screaming spiders on the other side braying at it furiously. Their attempts seemed to heighten in ferocity and the door began to shake more violently, doing little to ease anyone's tensions.

"You need help Sam? Because we _really_ don't have the time," Eddy said coarsely. "Stuff it Private," Sam replied. "Heh, fine then, _sir_!" Eddy rebuked, "Let's just get our asses kicked while you're busy putting your socks on! Of course we can always… What the..?" The door had stopped rumbling and the sounds from the spiders were slowly dissipating. "What the hell is this? A retreat?" Jimmy asked with a hint of worry. "No," Sam muttered as he ejected the spent clip from his rifle, "They never retreat. They only regroup." Eddy's eyes went wide.

"The vent!" he cried out. But his warning was already too late. The vent going across the ceiling suddenly jerked. Moments later a hatch on it opened and the dead zombie came spilling out. A hoard of spiders followed.

"_Fuck_!" Jimmy screamed as he jammed down on the trigger and sent a wave of pellets towards the opening. They tore into the first two spiders and killed them instantly, leaving them to plummet to the floor below as the spiders behind pushed them out of their way. Two more guns entered the fray, spilling brains and blood of the hideously deformed spiders flowing forth from the vent.

Sam's gun already beeped, indicating his clip was dry. He cursed under his breath as he grabbed one from the table that Eddy must have left behind and shoved it into his rifle. The gun happily accepted its new occupants and once again sprayed death towards the oncoming creatures. Meanwhile Eddy was picking his shots with bursts, splaying a spider across the wall whenever Jimmy's shotgun failed to catch them all in a single blast.

Suddenly the UAM-12 ceased. Jimmy's eyes snapped down to it in disbelief as his hand jammed on the pump again, still to no avail. "Goddamnit!" he yelled as he shoved a pair of shells into it. Eddy's methodic defense was suddenly shattered. His fingers were quick to switch the gun to full auto as more spiders came piling in.

"I don't think they can stop either!" Jimmy hollered over the gunfire as he reared his shotgun once more and took aim. Sam barred his teeth and blasted a few more of the hell-spawn before hollering back, "Yeah! We'd better get the hell out of here, ASAP!" "Way ahead of you, Sam!" Eddy yelled back. He let his gun drop to the ground, causing a burst of anxiety in the on looking Sam. Reaching around his back, he yanked an HE grenade out of a pouch and twisted the cap. Sam shook himself out of it and cleared away the nearest spiders, giving the explosive an opening. Grafton hurled it into the vent and barked, "Everybody get down!" The two marines and hapless security guard hit the deck.

The vent above bubbled up before exploding, tearing the roof apart by its seams. Licks of fire and burning spider gibs went flying about the room. A steam pipe from inside the roof snapped in two and was spewing superheated water vapor into the already boiling room.

The shock subsiding, the three managed to get up on their feet. "Well that wasn't too hard now was it?" Eddy proclaimed, expecting a surefire victory. Another screech was heard in the vent above and his face went slack. "Nope," Sam replied in haste, "There's still more of them. Let's go." He shoved a few clips on his belt and reloaded his gun before charging out the door with Grafton and Konenburg in tow.

Sam's sudden burst of energy even surprised himself.

Marak's eyes narrowed as he traversed the dimly lit corridor. Had it been relatively clear he'd have been less cautious, but given the large number of shot up bodies and empty shell cases littering the hallway the presence of either a friend or foe was obvious.

The bullet wounds clearly came from the three barrels of a UAM-20, but from whose he didn't know. It could have been a poor comrade who was fighting zombies off in his death throws. Or it could have been a zombified security guard with a knack for blowing other zombies' heads off. Either way, it was better to keep his weapon at the ready than to possibly rush headlong into a wall of bullets.

Miller was close behind, eying the doorway behind them as they made their way down the long hallway. Several times he almost stumbled over a body or one of the empty boxes of shells that lined the entire length of the corridor. The zombie who was missing his face made him cringe. But he swallowed hard and kept his disgust down as best he could.

Finally the hallway made an abrupt right, a headless marine marking the corner. Marak rounded it with his gun at the ready, just in case of course. But what he saw beyond didn't seem threatening. In fact they were quite dead already.

The hallway was lined with marines, half torn up, some chewed, some even missing limbs. Mark's hands began to quiver as he winced at the sight before him. This section of the hallway was dimly lit with red warning lights which did little to make the scene any less gruesome or terrifying. He slowly let his gun down as he surveyed the results but instantly raised it again.

A silhouetted figure came around the bend of an intersection further down the hall.

It simply stood there, staring right back at the Corporal. Its features resembled that of a marine, the helmet obvious from even that distance. Bathed in a blood red hue, it was like a twisted mockery of Marak, a mirror image on the other side. To be honest he didn't know what to make of it.

Miller saw it too and had already brought his gun to bear on the figure. "Orders?" he said in a heightened yet muted voice. Marak didn't respond.

The figure began to walk down the hallway, carelessly stepping on the bodies of the fallen marines which dotted the floor. The figure was twitching unnaturally, a sight which made Marak feel uneasy. It was then that he saw the cylindrical object the figure was carrying in its right hand. The figure crept closer and finally came across one of the red lights, illuminating the front more clearly.

It was a marine alright, a marine with half of his face literally shot off with the helmet still on.

And he was carrying a chain gun.

It swung the massive Mach-3 Chain Gun up and grabbed the forward handle with its free hand. The motors began to purr, the sound easily reverberating through the narrow corridor.

Without thinking Marak grabbed Miller by the arm and jumped to the side. Within mere moments the space he was just occupying was filled with 30 caliber bullets from the chain gun. They hit the wall behind and burrowed in deep, some even nicking a pipe and causing it to leak. The Mach-3 Chain Gun was nicknamed the "Saw" because its bullets were able to literally chop a person in two. This power was evident, and in the hands of a crazed zombie it was twice as deadly.

"Holy shit!" Miller cried out as the pipe snapped. He rolled out from under Marak and peeked around the corner of the wall. The zombie was busying itself by loading a new ammo belt into its gun. Seizing the opportunity, Miller shoved his gun around the corner and took a blind shot, all three rounds from his burst missing their target. The gun beeped, prompting Miller to scowl and reach for another clip, but the zombie had already finished reloading. Kevin barely escaped the second salvo.

"Son of a _bitch_!" he yelled angrily, "He's fast!" Marak nodded and waited for the bullets to stop flying. But once they did he heard a loud clank coming from the zombie's position. Curiously he peeked around the corner and saw the zombie running at him in full stride, arms outstretched. "Fuck!" he screamed as he opened fire, hitting the zombie in its chest and forearm. But the confirmed hits were not enough and the creature plowed into him like a bulldozer, pinning him against the wall where the pipe was still venting some type of gas.

In the few seconds that it had him in its clutches, Mark felt a cold vacuum struggling against him. This wasn't like any normal combat situation. This zombie just wanted him dead for reasons he couldn't possibly understand. There was no reason for this madness.

Suddenly it stopped struggling and fell backwards onto the floor, a trio of rounds having punctured its armor and cut through its heart and lungs. Marak shook himself out of his shock and picked up the rifle he had dropped when the zombie pummeled him. Grimacing at the now completely dead marine, he bent over to check the unit insignia embossed in the arm plate.

It was the standard UAC symbol with an A in the foreground. He was from Alpha Team.

Marak's blood ran cold.

He rushed over to one of the corpses against the wall and checked its insignia as Miller eyed him curiously. "What's up?" he asked, unaware of what troubled Marak. The Corporal stumbled backwards in fright, falling against the same wall he was just pinned to. "My… My God…" he muttered. "What?" Miller asked again with a mixed expression of confusion and concern. He bent over and looked at the arm plate of the dead marine zombie. He stood up, backed up against the wall, and said nothing.

Corporal Mark Marak was looking upon the remnants of his squad, the very last stronghold of men. They must have been on patrol and banded together when the shit started to fly. Every single one of them had gaping bullet holes gouging through their armor plating. One of their own cut them down.

One of the dead marines was still pressing against the button for his comm. system.

Marak was terrified; simply, utterly, completely terrified. He was visibly shaking and his eyes had gone wide, their pupils shrinking to tiny dots.

Miller on the other hand was simply silent. He didn't dare utter a word that could disrupt this fragile moment. No matter how much he wanted to console his comrade, he couldn't. Nothing he could even say would prove to be of any use, leaving him to watch on in silent agony as the marine before him began to bawl.

"What the hell…" Marak managed to say through blurred and teary eyes, "Just… Oh God…" Miller couldn't answer, couldn't even hope to. Trying to break away from the traumatic moment himself, he got off of the wall and traveled down the corridor made graveyard. Spotting the chain gun still laying on the floor, he slung his own rifle against his back and hefted the weapon up. There was still a spare ammo belt next to it; apparently the zombie figured it would be better off just choking the life out of Marak. He slipped the belt through his fingers and slung it over his shoulder.

Just then the comm. unit it his helmet crackled to life, the panicked voice of Private Grafton coming over the headset. "Miller? Marak? Where the hell are you guys? We need help ASAP!" "Wha..?" "_Right now, Goddamnit_!" Gunfire filled the channel and the communication cut.

Miller instantly turned to Marak who was still slumped against the wall, although now not crying as much as before. Miller grunted and ran over to him. "Get up, Mark," he demanded. He didn't move. "Damnit to hell, get up, Corporal!" It looked like that got his attention. Miller decided to keep going. "Eddy and the others are in trouble, so get off of your ass! We need to go save theirs!" Marak simply stared at him. "Goddamnit, marine, get moving!" Miller barked. Marak chuckled back weakly. "You know you don't have the authority to tell me what to do…" "No," Miller replied, "I don't, but I'm the only one here left to give you a swift kick in the ass. Now here, grab my hand. We don't have a lot of time."

The fear was intensifying, in fact permeating the open room they were running through. A machine above hissed as its pistons pumped just as the wall of spider demons hissed behind the retreating marines.

Eddy was bringing up the rear, occasionally spinning around and giving the hell-spawn a piece of his mind, but it was merely a delaying tactic. They had underestimated the sheer number of spiders in this area, giving the distinct impression that they were near some type of nest. Eddy just hoped that Miller and Marak would get their asses over here fast.

"Grafton, they're gaining," Jimmy panted, "we need to force some back!" He abruptly stopped, swung around behind a box, and opened fire. Eddy almost kept running, stopping just moments later. He spun around and knelt down, giving him the best support possible for his gun, and took his shots. The sight was horrendous; the spiders seemed to cover the floor like a living carpet. Eddy could have kicked himself for not bringing another grenade.

Sam was unaware that the two had stopped and kept running until he reached the next doorway, as it opened, he spun around to see where his team went. He turned just in time to see a spider jump on top of the box where Jimmy was.

His shotgun clicked.

With a screech, the spider tackled Jimmy in the face, biting into it with its razor sharp teeth. Struggling to get it off, the security guard flailed around wildly, smacking the demon upside the head with his shotgun. Eddy turned and shot the spider off of Jimmy but not before they had overrun his own position. The UAM-20 fired wildly in a desperate attempt to clear the way, but it was no use. After fragging another spider and scurrying out from under its entrails, Eddy was forced to look on in horror as Jimmy was speared in the face with a spider leg and drug towards the mass of flesh which occupied that side of the room.

"No!" the Private screamed, smashing yet another spider in the face with the barrels of his gun. But they were overrunning him too now, their long spike-like legs crawling onto him.

The spiders exploded in a hail of bullets, leaving Eddy in shellshock as Sam grabbed him by the hand and literally dragged him across the floor to safety. "Jimmy! Jimmy!" he yelled at Sam, flailing around with his gun even though it was already out of ammunition. "I know!" the Corporal replied, "There's nothing we can do for him now!" Sam was sure that Eddy's expression wasn't one of comfort.

Once Sam's gun had run out, he helped Eddy to his feet and immediately jettisoned the spent clip, replacing it with a fresh one and jamming down the trigger before it was even all the way in. Eddy took a moment before doing the same, and now the two marines were left to fight against the hoard of spiders.

Officer Konenburg's lifeless body was seen being pulled into the doorway at the other end of the room.

"Gunshots!" Marak cried. "Yeah, no shit!" Miller responded, hefting the big chain gun up into position as he stormed through the door. They bolted down another hallway and through another door before running across Sam and Eddy's desperate struggle. But Miller instantly realized that something was wrong. "Wait, where's Jimmy?" he demanded. "He's gone!" Sam hollered back. Miller winced, but shook himself out of the thought and got next to the two fighting marines. His finger depressed the trigger and the gun began to hum. "Get back!" he yelled.

Slugs began to fly in all directions, dicing up the spiders by the dozens. The hail of lead was defying the storm, only serving to anger the hell-spawn further.

"Get moving!" Miller yelled, "I'll hold up the rear!" He looked back at them for a few seconds before saying again, "Go!" Sam nodded and looked over to Eddy and Marak. Both seemed in a state of shock, but Marak's aura of dread didn't seem right. But in any case, they looked back at him, gave brief affirmative nods and took off, Eddy in the lead. Sam went after them, noticing that Miller was slowly pulling back himself. "Are you gonna be alright?" he yelled back. "Yeah! It's my turn, remember?" Sam just shook his head and kept running.

After passing through several more rooms, Marak managed to holler back that he'd found a group of refugees and that they'd be safe there for the time being. It was a good thing Miller wasn't up front, otherwise his gut would have churned.

They came upon an open room with a giant chasm in the center. To the right was a walkway hugging the wall and to the left was a viewport for some hallway in another room. A crane ahead was grabbing tubes of blue material from a rack and feeding them to a machine embedded in the wall, obviously part of the MFS Compressor. Miller was still in the last room unloading rounds at the approaching spiders as Sam and the others made their way across the platform.

A red, rotating warning light was situated above the walkway, a thin strip of red light illuminating small amounts of the room as it went as if it were probing the walls. Sam didn't make much note of it until he saw something reflect the light in the viewport to his left. As Eddy and Mark kept running, the Corporal skidded to a halt and looked over at the window. Peering closely, he saw a figure standing there looking right back at him.

_The FNG!_ Sam couldn't believe it. The marine he'd bossed around earlier today was somehow still alive. He was wearing heavily bloodied security armor and was gripping a UAM-12 shotgun. His face seemed to belie fear, but otherwise he was unharmed. "I'll be damned," Sam said aloud to himself. Briefly looking over his shoulder he saw Eddy and Marak storming through the door. Looking back up at the FNG, Sam pointed towards the door's general direction and yelled, "Move it! Go go go!" The man in the window nodded and took off.

Sam couldn't help but grin as he took chase after the two marines ahead of him. _Maybe we aren't as screwed as I thought_


	12. Chapter 11

_**11**_

_I thought wrong… Either I was in denial or the stimpack had me going crazy, but we weren't faring well… We… We lost Jimmy to those bastards… He was our only medic so that was kind of bad… Heh… That marine was still alive, but I had doubts he'd even survive to meet up with us… Guess I was wrong there too._

The door slammed shut behind them, but even its thick metal plating did little to comfort the retreating marines. The demons had access to the entire base through all of the little vents and service passages that cut through it much like the spiders' own webs. The only relatively safe place would be in Alpha Sector 3 where they'd be less obvious among the more abundant open machinery.

Miller's chain gun had already gobbled up what was left of the original ammo belt and had fired off half of the fresh one already. Luckily the spiders seemed as if they were left behind in the dust, so he didn't need to worry about running out of ammo… At least not yet.

Bravo Team, as battered as ever, stumbled into the next hallway in the maze that was Alpha Labs. If they kept pushing forward they might have reached Sector 3 sooner, but Sam's body had other plans. His head had regained its light headed nature, foreshadowing his inevitable downfall.

The energy was draining out of him quickly, the same energy that was provided by the stimpack which he was injected with just a couple of minutes ago. Sam was in no condition to fight on his own steam, so he was forced to rely on other methods. Now those methods were failing him. He'd have asked for another one of those needles, but in a freak twist of fate they were being carried by Jimmy who was most likely lying dead in a place Sam hoped he'd never have to see, let alone be in at all in any circumstance.

Eddy got the hint when Sam almost tripped over his own feet, causing him to stumble into the unsuspecting Private. "Whoa! Jeeze, Sam, what's wrong with you?" he said, recoiling from the Corporal as he pushed him away. "Not a clue…" Sam managed to pant back. Eddy squinted at his superior officer under his visor. He was going to admonish Sam, but he realized that the hole in his shoulder was not his fault. Neither was Jimmy's sudden, unexpected death. He jogged up alongside Marak who didn't even look back at him. "We're stopping at the next security post, right?" Eddy asked. Marak failed to respond for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes… Yeah…" he muttered. Eddy shook his head and kept on running.

This portion of the labs seemed to be more dimly lit than the rest, probably due to a power failure when something somewhere ripped a cord or shot up some control panel. Such a delicate research facility was not meant to be a war zone, after all, so it was no surprise that red warning lights were flickering every which way the marines looked. Unfortunately they did little to aid the naked eye and merely made the scene more intimidating.

Sam was beginning to stumble over his own two feet, the delirious effect worsening each passing moment. It wouldn't be long before he passed out on the run which would give him a face full of metal plating and a date with a hungry demon.

In an attempt to take a quick breather, he managed to tell his comrades through his panting to stop so he could apprise Kelly of the situation. They agreed, reluctantly of course, but they weren't the drugged up one with the hole in their shoulder so Sam rationalized that they had no room to complain.

They sidestepped into a small office which had seen the final struggle of some poor scientist or another. He had been bludgeoned in the face most likely by a wrench some zombified tech had snatched somewhere. It was strange, though, since the man had not been eaten at all but merely killed and left for dead. But the gash on his face couldn't have possibly ended his life, a fact which intrigued Eddy who began to examine the corpse as the others took up positions and had Sam raise Sergeant Kelly on the comm. link.

"Sergeant," Sam said, his wheezing somewhat muted, "this is Bravo Team. We're almost to Sector 3. The checkpoint shouldn't be far now." "Roger that, Bravo Team," Kelly responded, "What's your situation?" "Not good…" Sam grunted, "We lost a security guard we had tagging along. He was our only medic, so we might be in some pretty deep shit now…" "What about that marine I sent after you?" Kelly blurted out, interrupting Sam's doleful report.

The thought had nearly slipped his mind, but thanks to Kelly it was firmly in place once more. That FNG looked like he'd gone through hell itself. Sam could still imagine his somewhat indifferent expression and bloody armor as he told Kelly what he saw. "Yeah, he's still alive. We saw him near the MFS Compressor…" "Saw?" the Sergeant interrupted once more, "What's wrong?" "We can't reach him, Sarge, he's on the other side of the chamber…"

A few seconds of eerie silence pervaded the room until Kelly came back on the speakers. "Corporal, the chamber is split into those two segments for the rest of Sector 2. He's in the maintenance section while you're in the control section…" "Wait," Sam said, interrupting his superior officer this time, "Are you telling me we have to go all the way through here and find him in Sector 3?" "I'm afraid so," the grizzled veteran replied ruefully, "But I'll see what I can do. It looks like the fastest way for him to reach you is heading through Engineering. I'll get his ass moving. In the meantime, Corporal, get your own ass to that Communications Center and get that transmission sent!" Sam nodded an affirmative before realizing that Kelly couldn't even see him, voicing a quick "Yes sir" to correct his fatigue-induced error. The Sergeant cut the link, presumably to tell the FNG to "get his ass through Engineering". Sam could only hope that the poor guy could last a little longer until they finally met up.

"Uh, Sam?" Eddy said, breaking the silence, "This isn't good…" "What's going on, Grafton?" Marak questioned before Sam could do so. "Uhm… This… Sir…" he muttered, flipping the dead body over to reveal a giant slash in its back. Corporal Marak's eyes went wide, as did Sam's and Miller's when he eventually turned around to see what the hell they were blabbering about while he was guarding the door.

The cut was rather large and very deep, being at least a torso's length and engraved up to five inches into the scientist's back. The copious amounts of blood and the severed spinal cord were dead ringers that whatever had killed him did not do so simply by bashing his face in with a work implement. In fact, the attack looked surgical, almost strategic; the attacker knew exactly where to hit the man.

"I don't like the look of this," Eddy finally managed to say, "I mean, nothing we've seen so far can do… well… _this_," he said while motioning towards the broken body. Sam half nodded, somehow failing to comprehend all of the ramifications of the discovery, while Miller simply winced and Marak looked on in concern. Of all things, this was one of the most unsettling sights they'd ever see on the Mars Base, not because of the gruesomeness but because of the fear it instilled: something with the ability to kill easily and at will was in the base. And it was loose.

Eddy suddenly had an intense feeling of dread which was evident as it played across his face. "Uh, do you guys feel like we're being watc…" "We're getting out of here," Marak barked abruptly as he shoved Kevin through the doorway at his protest, "We're getting the _hell_ out of here." "Fine by me," Sam said, barely getting out of his kneeling position in his weakened state. The foursome barged through the door and began to run like there was no tomorrow.

And they had every reason to do so.

"Ok," Marak said as his boots repeatedly dashed the floor, "First order of business: we get to that checkpoint. We give Sam a gallon of stims, we load up, and we move out. Any questions?" No one bothered to voice any complaints, partially because they were too worried of something jumping out at them.

Ironically an imp came bursting through the floor grates below Miller and threw him off balance to tumble into the wall of the corridor. Eddy, who was right behind him, almost stumbled right over the hell-spawn's head before coming to an abrupt halt and opening fire on the creature between his feet. With angry screeches the imp retreated into the darkness, a set of new eye sockets compliment of Eddy's rifle. "Fuckers! They're in the floors too?" he yelled.

"And on the ceiling!" Marak cried out as the bulky form of an imp dropped from the light fixture above him and landed on the marine, claws extended. Luckily Miller's chain gun had already started warming up when he saw the first demon, so by the time he swung back around the imp was doomed. The thirty caliber bullets chopped through the hideous creature like a hot knife through butter, literally sawing off the arm which was about to slash Mark and then taking its entire head off in one fell swoop. The one-armed being began flailing around despite its lack of a cranium before finally being silenced by Private Miller's red hot barrels moments later.

Kevin grabbed Marak's arm and hefted him up to his feet while Eddy anxiously scanned the hallway for any more signs of demonic activity. Sam, still as dazed as ever, took up a belated firing position and almost blew Grafton's foot off. It was a good thing the marine was too busy scanning the walls otherwise he might have smacked Corporal Holmes upside the head.

Satisfied that nothing else was ready to jump out at them for now, Eddy lowered his firearm and walked over to Marak who was busy shaking the shock out of his system. "You said there was a group of survivors, right?" he asked, "Where are they? Are they nearby?" Marak slowly nodded while Miller let out an annoyed snort. "Yeah… They should be nearby. To the left I think…" he muttered reluctantly, knowing that the broken bodies of his team were lying somewhere along the way. "I think we should head that way, recruit any help we can get…" "It isn't worth it," Miller barked, throwing the startled Private off guard. "They aren't leaving, so as far as I'm concerned they're dead already." Grafton knew better to keep pushing. Miller was always the kind to have a hot temper, the release of which was characterized by the fire which sprung forth in his eyes. Eddy could almost swear that the marine's visor was gaining a red hue.

"Alright," Marak replied with a slight hint of relief, "We're not going back for those guys. In all likelihood they're already…" His sentence was cut short and the Corporal stopped talking, leaving the group in silence.

"Uh, why the hell aren't we moving?" Sam asked his team.

Private Grafton and Corporal Marak, both with guns at the ready, stood on either side of the door while Kevin hefted his chain gun up into firing position. In unison the two men with rifles nodded and Miller stepped forward, causing the motion detectors to open up the door automatically. But instead of some gruesome scene or an unexpected attack, the room was eerily empty and quiet for that matter, the only sound coming from the spinning barrels on Miller's gun.

It looked as if there was a struggle in that multiple chairs and floor plates were scattered about as if a bomb hit the place, but there were no signs of fallen marines, dead civilians, or even zombies. It was as lifeless as a graveyard.

Kevin Miller, with his huge firearm firmly in hand, stepped through the doorway and felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Something about the room wasn't right, and it was chilling the marine to the bone. After a futile attempt at shaking the feeling off, Miller let his gun drop and shut off the motor for the revolving barrels. "Floor's clear," he told the others behind him, "Let's move in."

The marines entered the ominous room, each feeling the same foreboding presence as they stepped inside. Sam's state, however, almost completely negated this effect which was, in a sense, a blessing in disguise.

Eddy quietly stepped over one of the misplaced floor panels. It looked as if something pulled it out and crawled inside the space between the panel and the bottom flooring. Curious, he kicked the panel aside and flipped on his night vision to look inside. A little way down the hole was a disembodied arm which punctuated a trickle of blood going down the shaft. The Private had seen much worse already, so this sight merely made him grimace. "Looks like they took the bodies or something," he said back to his team, "right through the floor. I think those damn demons were responsible…"

"Obviously," Marak responded, "After all, there's a dead one hanging from the ceiling." Eddy glanced up and caught sight of the bloody husk hanging from a vent above, its limp arm dangling over the side. Mark was standing beneath it, looking up at the dead hell-spawn hovering over him like a wraith. "Well, at least our guys put up some kind of fight," he muttered.

"Yeah," Miller said as he stepped over in front of the large window which covered the security station, "I just hope some of them…" He felt a slight slip in his boot and looked down at the floor. A pool of blood sat before him, not unlike any other pool that was occupying the now demonized Mars Base, but it _was_ different in that it was growing. Miller's eyes followed the source of the flow to the wall as it went up and onto the window. As his eyes met it, it became obvious that the window was now covered in the red liquid, and distinct letters could be seen on it, written in the flowing blood.

"Death is coming…" Miller muttered as he read over it several times. "What?" Marak said, turning around and seeing the bloody scrawl for himself. "Holy _shit_… That wasn't there, before was it?" Miller shook his head, "I don't think so…"

Something smacked the window and hard, startling everyone in the room as it violently broke the eerie silence. The body of a technician came tumbling off of the window on the other side, leaving a large mark which blotted out the text. An inhuman growl came from the other side which drew Miller's attention. Peering past the blood-stained window, he saw a pair of glowing orange eyes. They blinked once, and then suddenly a second pair of eyes came along side the first, blinking in turn.

Whatever it was shrieked and came hurtling towards the window. Instinctively, Miller's finger jammed down on the trigger, prompting the chain gun to start back up.

With a deafening crash, the monster burst through the bulletproof, multi-layered window, sending shards of it cascading about the room. By the time it had cleared the window, Miller's gun had started to open fire. In desperation the marine swung the blaring gun to and fro, peppering the approaching demon. One shot nicked it on the shoulder, but it was too little too late.

The strange, two-headed hell-spawn landed on the frightened marine and began to stomp on his chest with its clawed fists. It roared once more and had both of its heads looking straight down into its victim's eyes.

Kevin couldn't understand what the thing was, not that he'd want to anyway. Both of its heads, which looked like bloody skulls, shared the same muscular body which resembled an imp's, but it had numerous, fleshy growths coming out of its back. Long tongues lashed out and swung around violently. The marine had no clue what they were for, but he didn't intend to find out.

By now his chain gun had skittered to a stop a couple of feet away after his assailant had tackled him. Miller's arms flailed out to try and deflect the demon's blows, but its strength was enormous, as noted by the way it literally came through a heavily reinforced, bulletproof window. He was no match for it, and both predator and prey knew it.

Miller let out a yelp as it pounded down on him once more. Marak, who had narrowly missed the flying creature himself, had brought himself around and took aim at the creature. But somehow the thing knew that he was going to fire, and, without looking, jumped off of Miller and collided with his team mate. Marak's gun spewed shots wildly which ricocheted across the ceiling. _"Get this damn thing offa me!"_ he cried out as it brought him to the ground. Eddy and Sam both took aim and opened fire, their rounds gouging holes into the fleshy growths on the hell-spawn's back.

After pounding the marine a little more, it leapt off of him, just as before, and started galloping towards Eddy. Grafton let out a scream as it came barreling towards him, soaking up the large number of rounds which were impaling it all across its body. However, the demon lost its footing and tripped, sliding across the ground and right up to the Private's feet even as his weapon was still belching fire. Struggling to move with a hundred holes going through it, the demon finally gave up with a grunt and ceased its hellish agenda.

Eddy gasped for air as his body trembled and his gun whined for more ammunition. He smacked the clip release button and let the empty hunk of metal fly out only to be replaced by a new one. Slapping the cartridge down, Grafton looked over to his right where Sam used to be standing. He was still there, of course, only now slumped on the ground, passed out. "Oh, Jesus Christ," the Private moaned, "This just gets better and better." He looked up at his comrades who were still panting and trying to get off of the floor. "Come on and get up, you lazy bastards," Eddy hollered, "Help me drag him into the checkpoint." Marak just shook his head as Miller cussed in exasperation. They weren't doing well at all.


End file.
